AUSTRALIA’S Tess Coady has won our first medal of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic games with a fantastic performance in the women’s snowboard slopestyle.
Setting the tone with a solid first run securing an early podium position score, Coady managed to increase her score in the third and final run and then had to watch and wait to see her fate.
Landing her final jump in round three to perfection, a front side double ten, Coady's 84.15 would be enough to secure the bronze but not without waiting for a nerve tingling finish to see if any remaining competitors could oust her from the podium position.
With New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Julia Marino for the USA already sitting above Coady in first and second position, it was a waiting game for the bronze medal. In the end after some nervous moments her score stood the test as other competitors fell by the wayside as the pressure mounted.
Coady’s good friend Sadowski-Synott capped off her final run of the day by leapfrogging Marino to take gold home for New Zealand’s first ever Winter Olympic games gold and Sadowski-Synott adding to her bronze from PyeongChang in the big air.
“That was wild and that was so insane,” said Coady after the event.
She said she just wanted to send it on numerous occasions when being interviewed and send it she did.
Reflecting on her journey where she had an ACL injury during practice at the PyeongChang Olympic games, Coady said, “It’s crazy doing this kind of tour when you are a teenager and its pretty easy to get, you know, to this big stage and think you are a rockstar, and that kind of happened.”
“I just became complacent and sort of stopped working hard, and it was totally the kick up the arse I needed to get to work. In that whole year I seen everyone getting so much better than me, when I got back on snow there was no excuses from there, I have to just work my arse off and you know, just send it.”
The medal presentations are later on Sunday and then Coady will have her sights on the big air this coming Monday.
Results
Gold - Zoi Sadowski-Synnott NZ - 92.88
Silver - Julia Marino USA - 87.68
Bronze - Tess Coady AUST - 84.15