The first cab double cork 1440 in women’s snowboard competition has pushed Wānaka’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott into second place at the FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Championships in Georgia.

Sixteen-year-old Mia Brookes (UK) stunned her fellow competitors with her final run to claim the top position.

“Mia is leading snowboarding competition at the moment, especially on the jumps,” Zoi said.

“She is competing on the World Cup circuit at the moment and pushing all of us girls to ride our best.” 

Zoi was the top qualifier into today’s final, meaning she was the final athlete to drop for each of the two runs. 

Dropping into her first run Zoi laced together a technical jump section with a switch back 900 into a frontside 1080, finishing with a backside 1080. The judges liked what they saw and rewarded her with an 88.78, putting her into gold medal position after run one.

Her score held as the top score throughout run two, that is until second to last rider Mia dropped in. 

Dropping last, Zoi knew Mia had landed something special from the roar of the crowd. She dropped in but was unable to better her first run score. 

“Winning a medal here means a lot to me, it’s my last slopestyle competition of the season and it’s sick to land my run,” Zoi said. 

“Of course, I wanted to try and back up the World Champion title, but I did everything I could, and I am so stoked for Mia.” 

Slopestyle was the first event for the Kiwi's at the 2023 FIS Freeski and Snowboard Park and Pipe World Championships. In the coming week Kiwi athletes will be dropping into the Snowboard Big Air, Freeski Big Air and the Freeski Halfpipe.

See the full results here.

PHOTO: Mia Matavz / FIS Snowboarding