Kiwi snowboarding starlet Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has continued her impressive build-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics with a gold medal in the prestigious invite-only X-Games women's slopestyle in Colorado.
The 20-year-old made an early statement by nailing a frontside double 1080 into a backside double 1080 in her second run, becoming the first woman to ever land such a combination in competition.
The broadcast team described the run as "the most technical women's slopestyle snowboard run we have ever seen in any contest ever".
Sadowski-Synnott then held on through her final two runs to claim her third X-Games gold medal and her third podium finish at a major event to date in the 2022 season.
The event was the last in her build up to the Games in China next month, where she'll look to add to the bronze medal she won at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018.
Sadowski-Synnott will represent New Zealand in the snowboard slopestyle and big air.
"It means so much to me, everyone was absolutely ripping," she said afterwards.
"That was the sickest contest I have ever been a part of. To put that run down, I have been working towards it for a while, so I am just so stoked."
"I have been working towards that for the last year, and it was my goal to put it down here, so I am super happy."
She was joined on the podium by American two-time Winter Olympic slopestyle gold medalist Jamie Anderson in second and Canadian Laurie Blouin in third.
Sadowski-Synnott will begin her bid to become the first-ever Kiwi to win an Olympics gold medal on February 5.
She'll be back in action at the X-Games in the Big Air event on Sunday.
