Wanaka's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is "stoked" to have claimed the silver medal at the LAAX Open FIS Slopestyle World Cup overnight in Switzerland, finishing less than two points behind winner Jamie Anderson (USA).  

In challenging weather conditions Zoi put down the first clean run of the event with a technical and impressive first run that put her comfortably in first position.

Zoi's first run 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, frontside 720 mute on jump one, a backside 720 on jump two and a frontside 180 in with a switch backside 540 out of the final creative snow feature, nicknamed the birdbath.

Zoi went all out for her second run but explained that 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. 

The LAAX Open women’s podium. [L-R] Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) 2nd Place, Jamie Anderson (USA) 1st place, Tess Coady (AUS) 3rd place. PHOTO: Snow Sports NZ

Snowboarding powerhouse Jamie Anderson (USA) put down a solid second run, including a double cab 900, to squeeze Zoi out of the gold medal position by less than two points. Tess Coady (AUS) rounded out the podium in third.  

“With the uncertainty around the number of events that are going to happen, you’re really dropping in every time like it’s your last competition, you never know when the next one is going to be,” said Zoi referring to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“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. The park crew at Cardrona were helping us out with any features we needed like the quarter pipe.”  

Next up for Zoi is the prestigious Aspen Winter X Games (29-30 January) in Colorado, USA.

For results of LAAX Open FIS Slopestyle World Cup click here.