Zoi Sadowski-Synnott

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (born 6 March 2001) is a New Zealand snowboarder, specialising in slopestyle and big air competitions. She won the bronze medal in the women's big air at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and won the women's slopestyle title at the 2019 World Championships.

Personal life

Sadowski-Synnott was born in Sydney, Australia, to a New Zealand father, Sean Synnott, and an American mother, Robin Sadowski. Her family moved to Wanaka, New Zealand when she was six years old. She has two older brothers, Dylan and Harrison, and one older sister, Reilly. She resides in Wanaka, and attends Mount Aspiring College.

Career

Sadowski-Synnott won the silver medal in the slopestyle at the 2017 FIS Snowboard World Championships.

She competed for New Zealand at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She won the bronze medal in the women's big air, becoming only the second New Zealander to win a Winter Olympic medal, behind Annelise Coberger who won silver in the women's slalom at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Her big air qualifying saw her become the first woman to successfully land a switch backside 900 (i.e. riding in unnatural stance and performing 2.5 rotations in the backside direction) in competition. She also competed in the women's slopestyle, finishing in 13th place.

At age 16 years 353 days, Sadowski-Synnott briefly became New Zealand's youngest ever Olympic medallist, breaking the previous record of 17 years 100 days set by Danyon Loader at the 1992 Summer Olympics. The record was broken later the same day by Nico Porteous at age 16 years 91 days. She was subsequently selected as New Zealand's flag bearer for the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony, becoming the nation's youngest-ever flag bearer.

In January 2019, Sadowski-Synnott claimed the gold medal in the slopestyle event, and the silver in the big air, at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado. A month later, she won the gold medal in the slopestyle at the 2019 FIS Snowboard World Championships.

In March 2019, she won the slopestyle event at the US Open in Vail, Colorado, completing the triple crown of the Open title, the X Games gold, and the World Championship title.

International competitions