The 2021 world champion led after the first run, but was bumped into silver on the second run when the United States' Julia Marino hooked up one of her best routines of her career to take the lead with a score of 87.68 points.

Marino, who had to put together a solid second qualification run to make the final after several mistakes in her opener yesterday, was an unlikely medallist and leader, but could not hold onto the gold medal.

With Sadowski-Synnott the last to go on the third run, she had to better the second run of the American to become Olympic champion.

She did so by landing a 1080, enough to score 92.88 points.

Before the score came up, it was clear from Marino and Australian bronze medallist Tess Coady, that it would be enough to seal the gold medal.

The pair ran over to Sadowski-Synnott, embracing the 20-year-old, who was born in Sydney, but whose parents emigrated to New Zealand when she was six, on the ground as her coaching team celebrated the routine.

Coady put down an opening run for a score of 84.15 points, enough to hold onto the bronze medal.

Canada's Laurie Blouin, the Pyeongchang 2018 silver medallist, had two solid runs, but her best of 81.41 points was only good enough for fourth, just in front of top Japanese snowboarder Reira Iwabuchi on 80.03.

Big air Olympic champion Anna Gasser of Austria was sixth.

Kokomo Murase of Japan, one of the favourites for the slopestyle title, failed to put together a clean run, crashing in her final attempt, meaning she only finished 10th.

That was one place behind America's defending Olympic champion Jamie Anderson, who could not live up to Pyeongchang 2018 performance.

The bronze medallist from four years ago, Enni Rukajärvi of Finland, was seventh.

Sadowski-Synnott was the bronze medallist in big air at Pyeongchang 2018 - behind Gasser and Anderson - and 13th in slopestyle, narrowly missing the final at the last Games, surely never believing that four years she would make history for her country.