By Lisa Richwine
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Japan’s Mari Fukada won the gold medal in women’s slopestyle at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday, finishing just ahead of New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski Synnott who took silver to become the most decorated snowboarder in Games history.
Fukada’s compatriot Kokomo Murase claimed bronze on a partly cloudy afternoon in the northern Italian town of Livigno.
Murase, who won gold in the big air event, topped the leaderboard at the end of the first slopestyle run.
Fukada overtook Murase in the second, however, and improved on her score by earning an 87.83 on the final run. It was the first Olympic medal for the 19-year-old Fukada, who had finished ninth in the big air competition. She said she changed her mindset going into the slopestyle to focus on what she had been doing in training and not think so much about winning.
“That definitely helped with my nerves,” Fukada said.
Sadowski Synnott was in danger of missing out on the podium. The 24-year-old was in fourth place when she stood at the top of the course as the day’s final rider, but she said she took a moment before she dropped in to feel gratitude that she had the chance to compete again for a medal.
Minutes later, Sadowski Synnott had mastered her final run with a score of 87.48 to earn a silver that was the fifth Olympic medal of her career. She has one gold, three silvers and one bronze, and described the accomplishment as “pretty sick”.
“I couldn’t have even believed that that was a possibility when I was a kid,” she said. “So it’s pretty special.”
In slopestyle, riders navigate rails and other obstacles and perform aerial tricks to impress the judges with difficulty and originality.
Murase was disappointed with her bronze.
“I was going for the gold, so to be honest I’m a little bummed at the situation,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I gave it the best run I possibly could on this course.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Su Yiming of China won gold in the men’s slopestyle on his birthday.
Organisers delayed the slopestyle finals by one day due to heavy snowfall.
(Editing by Ken Ferris, Alison Williams and Ed Osmond)
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