Kiwi snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is gearing up for her most exciting, intense and challenging Winter Olympics campaign yet.
In five years, she's gone from being the rookie to a seasoned pro and becoming the one to beat along the way.
To get that status takes dedication and drive – attributes present in the early hours of the morning in Cardrona where Sadowski-Synnott is in her element.
“Honestly, I just love training here because it's home,” Sydowski-Synnott told 1 NEWS.
“You get so much done while everyone else is on holiday.”
Coach Sean Thompson said it’s not all fun though.
“It's long days - we're there for the first lift and by lunch we’ve done a lot of tricks,” he said.
“It's high intensity stuff.”
That intensity is about to go up another level though with next year’s Winter Olympics drawing near.
“We're on the cutting edge of the sport so we're trying to push further and we have goals and with that comes lots of stress and risk of injury,” Thompson said.
“There will be some gnarly stuff coming out. It's in the plan and if we execute it, well, you'll see it when she does it.”
With that said, a large portion of Sadowski-Synnott’s training is actually taking place away from the mountain on trampolines at the Snow Sports High Performance Base in Wanaka.
“For sure, I feel the fear,” Sadowski-Synnott said about training some of her manoeuvres.
“That’s why I practice on the tramp and try it into the airbag a few times ‘til I’m ready and then pick a nice day up Cardies to huck it.
“You don’t usually get it first try but even not getting it, getting it close feels like a win.”
By late afternoon, it's time for recovery which, for an active relaxer like Sadowski-Synnott, is usually skating or surfing.
Whatever the downtime, Thompson said it’s a key part of their training.
“There are expectations now,” he said.
“But with the pressure comes privilege and that’s where you want to be - you want to be No.1 going into the Games, you want that target on your back and you want to be the top person.
“You've just got to deal with it and that's what we do.”
And make no mistakes, after following up her PyeongChang bronze with golds at the 2019 and 2021 World Championships, as well as 2019 and 2020 X Games golds, Sadowski-Synnott is heading to next year’s Games with the biggest goal of all.
“I’ve dreamt of winning the Olympics since I started snowboarding and to see the last five years coming from underdog to where I am now, it'll just be so sick.”
SHARE ME