Maybe there is such a thing as home-resort advantage?
Patti Zhou, a 14-year-old snowboarder from China, competed in her first contest for The Snow League this week. She won it all.
Zhou took down Japanese rider Mitsuki Ono in the finals. Zhou started off her third finals run with a truck driver 1080 that was executed perfectly. Ono ended her third finals run with a 1080 that she didn’t quite execute. That trick proved to be the difference.
Ono was the No. 1 seed headed into today’s contest. She took down Rise Kudo in the semi finals.
This win is the first of the 14 year old’s young career. Zhou said in a post-contest interview that the win exceeded all her expectations. She won the event in front of a home crowd, as Yunding Snow Park in China is her home mountain.
“I’m just happy to be snowboarding with all my idols today,” she said. “Yunding is my home mountain, I love this place. I’m so grateful to be here, and I’m so happy.”
Zhou was set to take on current leader in the standings Sena Tomita in the semifinals, but was pushed through to the finals after Tomita suffered an injury in warm-ups.
Ono took the lead after run one, but Zhou came back and tied the series in run two. In her final run, Zhou followed her truck driver 1080 with a Cab 540 melon, a switch backside 900 Weddle, a Cab 720 Weddle, and a frontside 720 Indy. That was enough to claim a score of 79.66, which squeaked out Ono’s 76.33.
The win puts Zhou in fourth place in the Championship Standings with 100 points. Tomita is in first with 161, followed by Ono with 151 and Gaon Choi with 124.
Zhou’s victory earned her $50,000 out of a total prize purse of $370,000 for the event.
Maddie Mastro did not compete at this event, due to an ankle injury she suffered while training several weeks earlier. The decision to not start was a tough one, but the right move, due to the busy contest schedule ahead of her, she said on the broadcast.
NBC will air two recap shows starting with snowboarding on Sunday, December 21, from 4:30 to 6 pm ET, and freeskiing on Sunday, December 28 from 2 to 3 pm ET. Viewers in Canada will be able to watch live streaming on CBCSports.ca and Gem, with recap shows on Game+ television network.
Viewers across Europe can watch live streaming on HBO Max and Discovery+, with recap shows on Eurosport 1.