By Lisa Richwine
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Japan’s Mari Fukada won the women’s snowboard slopestyle gold medal at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.
Zoi Sadowski Synnott, the 2022 champion, took silver for New Zealand, while Fukada’s compatriot Kokomo Murase won bronze.
Murase, who claimed gold in big air on February 9, topped the leaderboard after the first slopestyle run in the Alpine town of Livigno.
Fukada overtook her in the second, however, and then improved on her score by earning an 87.83 on the final effort. It was the first Olympic medal for the 19-year-old Fukada.
Sadowski Synnott, a legend in the world of snowboarding, was in danger of missing the podium. She was in fourth place when she stood at the top of the course as the day’s final rider. The 24-year-old mastered her final run with a score of 87.48, earning a silver that is the fifth Olympic medal of her career.
In slopestyle, riders navigate rails and other obstacles and perform aerial tricks to impress the judges with difficulty and originality. The best score from three runs determines the winner.
Ally Hickman of Australia, on her second run, missed a landing and fell face forward onto the icy course. She lay on her back for several minutes before standing up and walking off the course. The 16-year-old returned but fell backward on a jump.
Earlier on Wednesday, Su Yiming of China won gold in the men’s slopestyle on his birthday.
Organizers delayed the slopestyle finals by one day because of a snowstorm.
(Editing by Ken Ferris and Alison Williams)
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