Zoi Sadowski-Synnott laid it all on the line, only to come up agonisingly short in her pursuit of another gold at the World Championships in Aspen, Colorado on Wednesday (NZT).
The Wnaka snowboarder had to settle for silver in the womens big air after failing to execute a daring attempt at a trick she had never landed during her final run at the Buttermilk Ski Resort.
Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott finished second in the snowboard big air to claim her second medal of the World Championships.
Sadowski-Synnott finished one point behind Canadas Laurie Blouin but the slopestyle champion said she had no regrets.
The 20-year-old was still stoked to come away with her second medal of the 2021 FIS World Championships, believing she gave everything she could to win her first big air world title.
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Laurie, she had two 1080s as well so it just came down to who had the best combined score, she said.
But its pretty cool being that position when you get knocked out of first place into second. Im not complaining.
Sadowski-Synnott led for most of Wednesdays final after combining a stylish frontside double 1080 melon grab with a backside 1080 weddle grab to score a combined 176.75 points from her first two runs.
But she was relegated to second when Blouin nailed an attempt at a cab double 1080 indy grab to surge to the top of the leaderboard with only two riders left to compete.
Requiring a score of 85.75 or higher to win gold, Sadowski-Synnott attempted a backside double cork 1260 melon but aborted the trick after one and a half rotations after misjudging the speed of the ramp in the snowy conditions.
I wasnt anywhere near close because Ive never actually landed it before.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott backed up her win in the slopestyle with a second place finish in the big air.
I just wanted to throw it down. But I cant control what the judges are scoring or anything like that, Im just stoked to land what I set out to do.
For the higher end tricks, you dont usually get a very definitive opportunity of when youre going to do them so Im not sure when the next time Im going to be able to do it, so thought I may as well make the most of the opportunity.
Sadowski-Synnotts previous best finish in the big air was a fourth place in 2017.
I came here with a plan to defend my slopestyle title and then put those two tricks down in the big air in my first two runs, so I did exactly what I set out to do.
Im pretty stoked. I couldnt really have asked for a better season. This is my last comp and Im just over the moon with how my whole season has gone.
