Sadowski-Synnott took the silver medal at the Laax Open FIS Slopestyle World Cup in Switzerland on Saturday, finishing less than two points behind winner Jamie Anderson, of the United States.
Inclement weather and a variable headwind affected the season opener and many in the women’s field struggled to find their feet for their first run.
But Wanaka-based Sadowski-Synnott took the weather in her stride and put down the first clean run of the event with a technical and impressive first run that put her comfortably in first position.
It consisted of a 50/50 on, 270 off on the first rail feature, a 50/50 to front board slide on the waterfall rail, a boardslide to 450 under-flip on the pole jam, a cab 540 under-flip on the quarter pipe, a frontside 720 mute on jump 1, a backside 720 on jump 2 and a frontside 180 in with a switch backside 540 out of the final creative snow feature, nicknamed "The Birdbath".
Sadowski-Synnott went all out for her second run but said she had “too much juice coming into the quarter pipe. I was hoping to put a bigger trick down on the second jump.”
She landed deep on the quarter pipe and washed out, resulting in a crash score for her second run.
Anderson put down a solid second run to squeeze Sadowski-Synnott out of the gold medal position by less than two points.
Australian Tess Coady rounded out the podium
“The time in New Zealand [2020 winter season] has been the most valuable thing for my snowboarding, especially this past season having access to a full slopestyle and big air to be able to train and learn," Sadowski-Synnott said.
"The park crew at Cardrona were helping us out with any features we needed, like the quarter pipe.”
Next competition up for Sadowski-Synnott is the prestigious Aspen Winter X Games taking place this weekend.
