Zoi Sadowski-Synnott will be chasing history this weekend in Beijing. Photo / Getty
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott will be chasing history this weekend in Beijing. Photo / Getty
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott will be the 12th and last athlete underway in the women's slopestyle final that starts at 2.30pm today, chasing her place in history as the first New Zealand athlete to win gold at the Winter Games (follow live coverage here on the Herald).
It's been 94 years sinceTed Morgan, boxing with a dislocated knuckle, won New Zealand's first Olympic gold medal.
The Games have undergone a few changes in the intervening century - the journey to Amsterdam was so lengthy that Morgan put on weight and had to move up a division - while New Zealand's medal count has swelled.
Kiwi athletes have since brought home an additional 52 golds, but none has been won at the Winter Olympics. This weekend in Beijing, however, that could very well change.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has much more than a puncher's chance of following in Morgan's pioneering footsteps and becoming the first New Zealander to stand atop a dais surrounded by snow.
The snowboarder has already made Olympic history, four years ago becoming this country's youngest medallist at 16 years and 353 days, before being eclipsed a few hours later by Nico Porteous.
But those bronzes, while wonderful surprises, should soon be consigned to the middle chapters of Sadowski-Synnott and Porteous' biographies, overshadowed by a distinctly golden hue.
Sadowski-Synnott will enjoy the initial - and best - opportunity to make that a reality and become a permanent fixture in future pub quizzes.
The first of her two events at Genting Snow Park begins this afternoon, set for two qualification runs in the women's snowboard slopestyle.
Then, barring a couple of terribly timed crashes in qualifying, tomorrow at 2.30pm she will have three runs for gold.
Sadowski-Synnott also has genuine medal hopes in the big air, the event in which she claimed bronze in Pyeongchang.
But it's the slopestyle that should first stop the nation and show why, even setting aside medals, she deserves to be considered among our brightest sporting stars.
The discipline sees riders snowboard down a course that features a variety of rails and jumps, with points awarded for tricks and grabs throughout the run.
It can be thrilling to watch and, as she says, gives Sadowski-Synnott the freedom to exhibit the full range of her abilities, from high-difficulty tricks to inch-perfect landings.
"I love riding slopestyle because you can show a bit more of what you're capable of," she told Newstalk ZB. "It's rails and jumps, where big air is just one trick on the jump pretty much.
"So I'm pretty stoked to have slopestyle up first to really show what I can do."
She has been doing plenty of that in the four years between Olympics. Two world championship golds, five world cup podiums, seven X Games medals, Sadowski-Synnott has become rather accustomed to riding down a mountain and then climbing up a podium.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott became - briefly - New Zealand's youngest Olympic medallist in 2018. Photo / Getty
The Wanaka resident last month won both the slopestyle and big air titles at the X Games in Aspen, defeating two-time Olympic slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson of the United States.
Sadowski-Synnott's success there was as much a warning to her rivals - being so close to Beijing - as an exclamation point after a stellar northern hemisphere season.
The 20-year-old finished on the podium in every competition she entered, defended her slopestyle world title and also claimed silver in the big air at the world championships.
"I just had a really epic training season in New Zealand and it just flows really well into the northern hemisphere season and getting back to competing," she said. "I owe it all to everyone who helped me out in New Zealand at Cardrona and Snow Sports NZ."
But, given the nature of her competition, Sadowski-Synnott disagrees with the notion that her exemplary form means there's now a target on the back of her jacket.
"Honestly, I don't really look at it that way because all of these girls out here, a lot of them have tricks they could do that would make them land on top," she said. "So I'm just taking it as it comes and trying to snowboard to the best of my abilities, and as long as I ride as best as I can, I'll be stoked and walk away happy."
That's been Sadowski-Synnott's attitude since she started snowboarding at nine, a natural step in a snowsports-loving family.
She entered her first competition while on holiday in Whistler and, as the only girl taking part, finished in what would become a familiar position.
It certainly feels a meteoric rise, from winning kids' competitions to the precipice of Olympic history. But that's not to say her ascent has been a total shock.
Certainly not for longtime coach Mitch Brown who in 2017 - before Sadowski-Synnott won the bronze that she hopes will soon sit alongside gold - told the Herald what was to come.
"People are blown away about this lady from Wanaka who has just popped up and become a force to be reckoned with on the world tour," Brown said. "I think she could really dominate the women's snowboarding world."
