Kiwi free-skier Nico Porteous has earned a podium finish at the X Games in Colorado.
The 17-year-old claimed a bronze medal in the free-ski superpipe in just his first appearance at the Games as the event's youngest competitor.
The Wanaka resident - who also won bronze at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang – scored an 89.00 to finish behind American David Wise (90.33) and hometown hero Alex Ferreira (92.66).
"It was mad déjà vu," said Porteous. "It hasn't really sunk in yet, I can't quite believe it. This comes close to the feeling of an Olympic medal, X Games is such a prestigious event in skiers’ eyes, this is definitely up there."
Less than an hour later, Zoi Sadowski Synnott won silver women's snowboard big air.
Sadowski-Synnott jumped in to the silver medal spot with her last jump of five.
The big air format requires athletes to land two different tricks with the combined scores counting for their overall score.Sadowski-Synnott landed a solid first trick which initially saw her topping the score board but went big on her next tricks and struggled to get a solid landing down until her very last trick.
"It's a dream come true to get on the X Games podium. I didn't expect that coming here. I just wanted to put some runs down that I was stoked on and compete against the strongest snowboarders," said Sadowski-Synnott.
Sadowski-Synnott was named as an alternate for the women’s snowboard slopestyle event, and if gets a start will be in action again on Sunday morning.
Both Porteous and Sadowski-Synnott are up for Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year at the Halberg Awards next month.
Fellow New Zealander Carlos Garcia Knight is due to start in snowboard slopestyle on Saturday.
Newshub.
