Kiwi sensation Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has created history by becoming New Zealand's first snowboarding X Games gold medallist.
The 17-year-old won gold in the women's snowboard slopestyle final at the Aspen X Games on Sunday (NZ time), with an impressive score of 91.00 points from a possible 100 thanks to two well executed 900s (two and a half mid-air rotations) and a double wildcat (double backflip).
American Hailey Langland finished second with 90.66, while Finland's Enni Rukajarvi was third with 84.66.
Sadowski-Synnott was originally named as an alternate (reserve) for the event, only receiving the call up, hours before the final, and she made the most of her opportunity to claim her second medal in three days in Colorado.
The second rider to drop in to the course, Sadowski-Synnott scored 90.00 in her first run with back-to back-900s and a double wildcat. She tidied up her trick execution on her final run to increase her score ever so slightly which was enough to secure gold.
"Words can't even describe how I'm feeling," she said. "I woke up this morning not even expecting to ride today and then I managed to land a run I hadn't done before in competition. I'm just really happy."
On Friday, she won silver in the women's snowboard big air - the same event she won Olympic bronze at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018.
New Zealand have now won three X Games Aspen medals this year, with Nico Porteous claiming bronze in the free-ski superpipe on Friday.
Both Porteous and Sadowski-Synnott are up for Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year at the Halberg Awards next month.
In 2016, Wanaka's Jossi Wells won gold in Aspen competing in skiing, but Sadowski-Synnott's efforts made her the first New Zealander on a snowboard stand top of the podium at the X Games.
The Aspen games are an invitation-only event and considered one of the pinnacle competitions in winter sport.
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