New Zealand win historic Winter Olympics gold but pandas run out

Zoi Sadowski Synnott made history on Sunday after winning New Zealand's first ever Winter Olympic gold but the men's downhill skiers were forced to wait 24 hours for their chance. Seven golds were up for grabs on the second full day of competition in the Chinese capital. Seven became six when the main event of the day, the men's downhill one of the most closely watched events at the Winter Olympics was postponed until Monday because of gusty winds.

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde -- one half of skiing's golden couple with Mikaela Shiffrin -- will be hot favourite. Sadowski Synnott, 20, held her nerve under brilliant blue skies to take the women's snowboard slopestyle title with the last run of the competition and make history. "Honestly it's absolute disbelief but it probably means more to me to win New Zealand's first Winter Olympic gold," said Sadowski Synnott, who was born in Sydney and moved to New Zealand when she was six.

"It makes me super proud to be a Kiwi." Sadowski Synnott, who spent Covid lockdown back in New Zealand jumping on a trampoline to help her aerial awareness, launched into a massive jump with her final trick to earn a winning score of 92.88. She was mobbed at the finish by American Julia Marino, who was relegated into silver with 87.68, and bronze medallist Tess Coady of Australia. New Zealand had previously won one silver and two bronze medals at the Winter Olympics -- including a third-place finish for Sadowski Synnott in the Big Air competition at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.