Winter Olympic medal hopefuls Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Alice Robinson headed back into a troubled world after very different Kiwi winters. But both came out of the experience so much richer.
It’s not an easy decision to leave the safety of New Zealand’s Covid-free bubble and head straight back into the middle of a global pandemic. Why would you?
The answer for Winter Olympians Alice Robinson and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, while not simple, is compelling: Because your sights are set on Olympic gold medals and your main competitors have already stepped up to the plate.
If you’ve ever questioned the grit or determination of our winter athletes, take another look.
These young sportswomen – Robinson just 19 years old, and Sadowski-Synnott recently turned 20 – have been doing the hard yards and Covid-19 is just one more hurdle to overcome. It’s been a challenge, but in some unexpected ways, there have been benefits for the two young snow-sport stars, now both back at home in New Zealand.
We’re 10 months into an 18-month qualifying period for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, and there wasn’t much happening in the way of competitions when Olympic qualifying kicked off in July 2020.
But the Kiwi winter worked out well for Sadowski-Synnott and other members of the New Zealand snowboard team. With New Zealand borders closed but their home training ground, Cardrona Alpine Resort, still providing a full training facility, they had the whole place to themselves. In any other year, the world’s top snow athletes would also be in New Zealand.
“We really weren’t sure if we’d even get a New Zealand season, so when we did, it was a really good one and we had more than enough facilities to train just like any other year,” says Sadowski-Synnott. “We kind of had a private park; that was insane.
“Me and my coach put a lot of work into the season, since we weren’t sure if we’d be able to go overseas to compete. I think coming off that and then having a good rest before going into the Northern Hemisphere at the start of January set me up for a good one, just being prepared mentally and physically.”
By “a good one” she means defending her 2019 world championship title in snowboard slopestyle – the first athlete ever to do so – and backing this up with silver in the big air event a few days later. Along with a silver in slopestyle and bronze in big air at the X Games, bringing her X Games medal tally to five.
In fact, Sadowski-Synnott made the podium at every major event she entered this season.
A cynical mind might question the quality of the field and the level of competition because the rest of the world was being held back by Covid.
“Everyone was there,” explains Sadowski-Synnott. “I felt like I had a head start over everyone because I had four or five months in New Zealand, but at the same time everyone was training on airbags or on dry slopes overseas, so it felt like everyone came out of the gates swinging.
“At the first competition, the World Cup Big Air in Kreischberg, Austria, the level was insanely high. It was really cool to see no one had taken a step back because of Covid. It seemed like everyone was a lot hungrier.”
