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Kiwi snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is set to make her long awaited return to the prestigious X Games.
The 23-year-old was absent from the invite-only event last year while she recovered from an ankle injury which saw her out of most of 2024 competitions.
The three-time Olympic medallist made a big statement in her return to competition after finishing second in the LAAX Open last weekend – her first podium finish in more than a year.
"Coming into this year, I was pretty nervous, especially coming off the injury," Sadowski-Synnott told 1News.
"Just to make finals at that event and then be able to put down a run in finals, I felt like I got my groove back."
The athlete has spent most of the last 13 months on crutches and a moonboot while healing from an ankle fracture.
"The initial diagnosis was like six weeks in a moonboot, and should have been back by X Games last year. But when I got back on my board, it just didn't seem to have been healing. The pain wasn't really going away and it was just a really tricky rehab," she said.
The X Games this weekend is a chance for Sadowski-Synnott to go big again in both slopestyle and big air as she looks to add to the collection of nine medals she's won at the event.
"I've seen photos online of the course and have been plotting and scheming what to do which is really exciting! I'm going to get eyes on it tomorrow and then start riding it and figuring out my run," she said.
And she's not alone – there will be six Kiwi athletes at the event in Aspen, Colorado.
Luca Harrington was on the waitlist as an alternate but has received a call up for an X Games debut in the Men's Big Air.
"It's incredible, honestly. I've been dreaming about this since I was a little kid," Harrington said.
His recent form has proven he's up to the standard. The 20-year-old has won back to back World Cup victories this year. But with a new scoring format being introduced to this year's X Games, it means the pressure is on.
"It's sort of one trick wins," he said. "In most competitions, you usually have to spin in two different directions. But this one, it's just pretty much who's got the biggest trick and who can, you know, put on the biggest show."
