It was the final run of the competition, the final jump of the run. Out of the blue sky came Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, a 20-year-old from New Zealand, and now the undisputed queen of slopestyle snowboarding.
She spun herself through the air with the second of back-to-back 1080s, knowing that a solid landing would win gold. She hit the ground hard but square. Her hands nearly dropped to the snow, then raised to the heavens in victory.
“The best run of my life,” Sadowski-Synnott said later, mostly proud to become the first athlete from New Zealand to ever win a gold medal at the Winter Games.