23 Jan 2023

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott soars to World Cup win in Switzerland

11:16 am on 23 January 2023

New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has won the LAAX Open Slopestyle World Cup in Switzerland for the first time.

Snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott soars to her career first win at the LAAX Open Slopestyle World Cup.  
LAAX, Switzerland (22 January 2023).

Photo: Supplied

The 21-year-old Wanaka rider overcame a 24 hour delay and challenging conditions on the course to top score on her first run of the day.

She led the field opting for a backside 720 instead of a planned 1080 during the first run for a top mark of 81.30.

The Beijing Winter Olympic slopestyle gold medallist's second run scored 80.96 which kept her Austrian and British rivals at bay.

Mia Brookes, the 16-year-old snowboarder from Great Britain, was second at the first slopestyle World Cup of her career, with Austrian snowboarder Anna Gasser rounding out the podium in third.

Sadowski-Synnott was thrilled after a nervous wait for the rest of the women's field to complete their final runs.

"Mia's run was so good and even watching Anna go down, it could have gone either way," Sadowski-Synnott said.

"I'm so stoked and so glad I put down that first run.

"I've been dreaming of winning the LAAX Open since I started competing. The weather has been pretty nuts, practice was pretty crazy, so to have the sun come out for finals is super sick."

Sadowski-Synnott will be in action next weekend at the Aspen X Game, where she'll look to defend her Big Air and Slopestyle gold medals.

Tiarn Collins (Queenstown, 23) competed in the men's slopestyle but was unable to complete his first run. He pulled off his second to finish 10th.