Is she?
Is she really?
Is New Zealand golden girl Zoi Sadowski-Synnott going to win not one but TWO Winter Olympic gold medals?
On yesterday’s evidence, it would take a very brave (or foolish) person to suggest any other colour will be hanging around the Wanaka superstar’s neck after the women’s snowboarding big air final in Beijing, set to go at 2.30pm today.
That might seem like a lot of pressure on the shoulders of a 20-year-old but it should be obvious by now this is no ordinary young woman.
Sadowski-Synnott followed up her stunning gold in the slopestyle with a dominant performance in big air qualifying at the Shougang venue yesterday.
She dropped a combined score (two out of three) of 176.50 to finish top of the 30-strong field, from which the top 12 qualified for the final.
Sadowski-Synnott, who won bronze in the big air as a 16-year-old in PyeongChang in 2018, opened yesterday with a backside 1080 with a weddle grab, scoring 85.50.
Her second run was low-key, scoring 62.25, before she unleashed something special with her third run.
She put down a huge frontside double cork 1080 with a melon grab to score 91.00, the highest trick score of the day.
“I’m just stoked to land my runs and get through to finals to ride another day,” Sadowski-Synnott said.
“I’d done the 1080 in practice and it was feeling good. I really wanted to land that one and I’m stoked that I did.
‘‘It’s put me in a good spot going into finals.”
Sadowski-Synnott said she was looking forward to her second final in Beijing, and hoped to give her New Zealand fans something to cheer about.
“I’ve got a trick I’ve been working on and I hope to put it down and just snowboard at my best and see where that gets me.”
She will have the benefit of going last in the final, knowing exactly how far she needs to push herself to set a winning score.
Her team-mate, Queenstown boarder Cool Wakushima, withdrew from the event due to a tailbone injury she suffered in slopestyle qualifying.
Japanese duo Kokomo Murase and Reira Iwabuchi shape as Sadowski-Synnott’s strongest challengers in the final, while defending champion Anna Gasser, of Austria, qualified sixth.
Jamie Anderson, the American star and 2018 silver medallist, missed out on the final.
Hackett was 13th after a score of 54.93 in her first run.
She was then looking sharp throughout her second run before crashing on her final jump, and scoring just 37.28.
‘‘Pretty bummed, to be honest,’’ Hackett told Sky Sport.
‘‘On the last jump, I just went massive. I was pretty stoked with the rest of my run and I guess it all came down to the last jump and I had a bit too much juice and went too big, unfortunately.’’
Hackett had hoped to make the final and indicated she would be keen to return in 2026.
‘‘My goal was to make finals and then show a bit more of my skiing but I guess that happens and I’ll just have to be back in a few years.
‘‘I think that’s giving me more motivation to come back and land one next time.’’
Queenstown snowboarder Tiarn Collins was the last New Zealander in action yesterday.
However, landing difficulties on his second and third runs put him out of contention for the final.
