Sadowski-Synnott in New Zealand Sports History

Aurélie SACCHELLI, Media365, published on Sunday 06 February 2022 at 05:17

New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won the downhill ski event on Sunday in Beijing and handed her country its first-ever gold medal at the Winter Games.

This Sunday, February 6th is a historic day for New Zealand sport! While the country has already won 53 gold medals at the Summer Olympics (including 14 in rowing), it has not won any at the Winter Olympics. The error is now fixed. Zoi Sadowski Synnott actually won New Zealand’s first Olympic title at the Winter Games on Sunday (fourth medal in total), by winning the figure skating event. Initially in qualifying on Saturday, the Sydney native, who will turn 21 in March, confirmed in the final held over three rounds. She took the lead in the competition with the best jump in the first round, before landing only the eleventh jump of the second round, allowing American Julia Marin to beat her.

Already a medal in 2018

In the third, she was still the one who got the best score. With a score of 92.88 points, she is ahead of her runner-up, Julia Marino, by more than five points. Australian Tess Coady completes the podium by more than eight points from the winner. This isn’t the first time Zoi Sadowski Synnott has climbed on an Olympic podium, since in 2018 in Pyeongchang, she won a bronze medal in the big air. An event that you will also participate in this year. Since then, she has also won two World Championships titles in Slopestyle. Thanks to this victory by Zoi Sadowski Synnott, celebrated by all her competitors at the end, New Zealand finds itself tied for third place in the medal standings, who would have thought? Remember that no French woman competed in this final, Lucile Lefevre finished 27th in the qualifiers, before ending her career.

2022 Winter Games / Snowboarding (F)
slopestyle event order – sunday 6 february 2022
1- Zoi Sadowski Synnott (New Zealand) 92.88 points
2- Julia Marino (USA) 87.68 points
3- Tess Coady (Australia) 84.15 points
4- Laurie Bleuen (Canada) 81.41 points
5- Rira Iwabuchi (Japan) 90.03 points
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