Wanaka snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has missed out on snagging New Zealand a medal at the Winter Olympics following her run at the women's slopestyle event in PyeongChang this afternoon.
The Wanaka 16-year-old is one of the youngest of New Zealand's 21 athletes who are competing at the Pyeongchang games.
Sadowski-Synnott scored a 26.70 after falling during her first run and a much improved 48.38 in her second run where she managed to complete the course and show off a bit of skill.
However, missing a jump due to a lack of speed early in her second run meant that she was destined to fall short of the podium despite some solid tricks near the end of the course, landing her a final ranking of 13th.
Sadowski-Synnott will be competing next in the women's big air snowboarding event.
2017 was a big year for the snowboarder, winning her first snowboard world cup - becoming just the third Kiwi to do it.
Sadowski-Synnott beat out fellow Olympian Carlos Garcia Knight to win Snow Sport New Zealand's athlete of the year award last year.
Sadowski-Synnott along with the rest of the snowboard slopestyle field advanced to today's final by default after the qualification round was cancelled due to strong winds at the Phoenix Snow Park venue.
This meant all 27 athletes competed in the final and each competitor had two rounds instead of three.
The cancellation follows an earlier decision yesterday to postpone the final of the men's Alpine skiing downhill.
Another Otago athlete, skier Alice Robinson will also be competing for a medal today.
Robinson (16) is the youngest ever New Zealander to compete at the Winter Olympics.
The Queenstown skier will be competing in the giant slalom, which is one of Alpine skiing's more technical events.
"I am so happy to be given this opportunity and am super-excited to be competing at my first Games so young," Robinson said.
"I don't mind being the youngest; I quite like it because I find it a bit more of a challenge."
Last year, the 16-year-old won the Snow Sport NZ's Breakthrough Season Award.
- additional reporting by Otago Daily Times
