New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski Synnott. Photo: AFP
24-year-old Wānaka snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is feeling her age.
The Olympic champion will compete in her fifth Park and Pipe World Championships in Switzerland over the next week hoping to add a third world gold medal to her impressive trophy cabinet.
However, she admits there is growing group of teenagers pushing the competitive envelope and they're snapping at her heels.
Sadowski-Synnott competed at her first World Championships as a 15-year-old, won her first World title in Slopestyle in 2019, added a second two years later and then went onto Olympic glory in 2022.
The young competition includes team-mate Lucia Georgalli, a junior world champion who is now competing at the highest level.
Sadowski-Synnott said knowing that this is her fifth world champs is crazy
"It's exciting to see all the girls come through and the ones I looked up to now phasing out," Sadowski-Synnott told RNZ.
However, she said the young athletes are inspiring.
"They're coming in from all around the world with different ways of looking at snowboarding," she said.
"They're creative and so that gives me a way of being inspired and creative also and keeps me pushing."
New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott Photo: photosport
Sadowski-Synnott concedes it is a dangerous sport but they are all well trained. However, at the ripe old age of 24 she is a bit more aware of the risks.
"For sure, I definitely feel when I come back after some time off the board I'm a bit more cautious and I lose a bit of confidence.
"But the girls coming up come in with no fear and are ready to chuck their bodies with no fear of consequence and that is really scary but exciting to see."
She injured her ankle at the end of 2023 and missed most of the competition in 2024.
"It took a really long time to come back and find that confidence," Sadowski-Synnott said.
"But it was a blessing, it gave me time to rest and get creative and kind of just reset.
"I'm really grateful for the team I've had around me to get me back to a hundred."
A third Olympics in Italy in February 2026 is her target, but for now she's feeling good going into her last competition of this season.
"I have my goals written down and it would mean a lot to do well here. I'm just going to try to do the run I want to do to be stoked and feel good on my board."
New Zealand has 19 athletes competing at the FIA Park and Pipe World Championships in Switzerland.
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