Zoi Sadowski-Synnott celebrates winning another world cup title in Aspen, Colorado. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
The Wānaka snowboarder won the Aspen, Colorado, round of the FIS snowboard slopestyle world cup yesterday morning in emphatic fashion.
It marked the 23-year-old's third slopestyle world cup win and her first since returning from an ankle injury that hampered her season last year.
Sadowski-Synnott was riding high after winning the women's snowboard slopestyle at the X Games last weekend, becoming the first woman to land a triple cork in competition, and claiming bronze in the snowboard big air.
"I worked so hard to get back to this level and be competing with the rest of the girls because they are pushing it so hard," Sadowski-Synnott said.
"I am so happy to be back."
As the top qualifier for the final, Sadowski-Synnott earned the advantage of dropping last into each of the two finals runs.
She put down a solid first run that had her sitting in the top spot, but with a couple of bobbles on the rails, and some of the top riders on the start list, there was no guarantee it would hold.
Kokomo Murase, of Japan, put down a strong second run, which bumped the Kiwi off the top spot, but Sadowski-Synnott had the deciding run.
She held her nerve to put down a winning run, tidying up the rail section and then lacing her back-to-back double corked 1080s on the last two jumps.
"I watched her [Kokomo's] last run and knew it was going to knock my first-run score, so I knew that I needed to clean up that rail section," Sadowski-Synnott said.
"I am stoked how it came out, stepping it up from X Games last week."
Sadowski-Synnott won by a significant margin, as the only woman to score in the 80s, with an 87.80.
Murase finished in second place and Britain's Mia Brookes rounded out the star-studded podium.
"All the girls were riding really well with the conditions," Sadowski-Synnott said.
"When we pulled up this morning it was so icy and the light was flat, it got a bit softer as the day went on so I am stoked everyone made it through all good and put down some good runs."
Kiwis Dane Menzies and Rocco Jamieson competed in the men's snowboard slopestyle world cup.
Menzies had a career-best result, finishing in fourth place and putting down a front side 1800 for his first time in a slopestyle run.
Jamieson finished 12th.
In the freeski halfpipe men's competition, Luke Harrold finished fifth and Fin Melville Ives sixth. _ APL
