An injury sidelined Zoi Sadowski-Synnott through the 2024 season, but on Friday, she won the women's slopestyle FIS World Championship.
Sadowski-Synnott was methodical in her final run. She laid down a cab 270 to boardslide pretzel and a frontside blunt 450 stalefish on the rails portion of the course, before clocking in a switch backside 900, frontside 1080 Weddle, then a 1260 melon back-to-back-to-back. She capped that off with a underflip 540 Indy and a backside blunt pretzel to claim a score of 90.15, and bring home the top spot.
The win marks her third world championships title, but her first since 2021.
Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images
“I can’t really believe it. I didn't really think about it coming into this week,” she said. “I was just feeling incredibly grateful for this whole winter after my injury last year, just really thankful for the support from my sponsors, my team, my friends and family.”
An ankle injury kept Sadowski-Synnott away from competition for the entire 2024 season, after she finished in second place at the 2023 World Championships. It was an injury that the rider from New Zealand thought might keep her off of the podium for the rest of her career.
On the men's side, Canadian Liam Brearley took home the World Championship with a score of 90.15 on his second run.
The 22-year-old rider put the nail in the coffin with a run that featured a backside 1620 melon, 1440 Weddle, a 1620 triple Weddle, and a 1080 truck driver and ended with a 50-50 to 270 boardslide on the rails.
Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images
“I’m so glad I landed that run. I didn’t land my first one, and I was just like ‘I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m going to put it all out there’, and it worked out,” he said after. “These boys are killing it and it’s such a high level of slopestyle right now. It’s just an insane level of riding."
China's Su Yiming took home the silver medal with a score of 85.07, and Oliver Martin, 16, took home the bronze with a 78.98. American Red Gerard finished in fifth place, and Canadian and Crystal Globe winner Cameron Spalding finished in sixth.
“There’s a lot of competition between the Canadians at the moment and we’re in a really good spot," Brearley told Olympics.com writers Nischal Schwager-Patel and Andrew Binner after. "I'm really stoked on the result and it puts me in a good spot for next year, so I'm looking forward to it."
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