Live updates: Beijing Winter Olympics - Kiwi snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott shoots for slopestyle gold

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7:58pm - Just to round off that slopestyle qualifying, China's Yu Shiming finishes atop the standings and will take the top seeding into tomorrow's final.

Kiwi Tiarn Collins finishes 18th, missing out on the 12-stong final field.

Su (China) 86.80 1, McMorris (Canada) 83.30 2, Fitzsimmons (USA) 78.76 3... Hamada (Japan) 67.45 12... Collins (NZ) 58.36 18

7:10pm - Norwegian Roisland wipes out and won't improve on his seventh placing, but now comes Kiwi Tiarn Collins. No pressure here, but he's in 16th, only 12 to qualify and 64.86 to beat.

No, he wipes out a landing and backs off. He's out of contention, but at least he'll have a chance to celebrate with Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and her gold medal tonight.

7pm - Japanese Hamada also pushes Collins down the rankings, producing a clean run for 67.45, good for 10th. Collins is 15th, with Kleveland's 64.86 on the bubble. 

6:58pm - Norwegian Kleveland does just enough to crack the top 12, landing in 11th with 64.86. Collins slips to 14th.

6:53pm - Canadian McMorris improves from 11th to second with 83.30.

Su (China) 86.80 1, McMorris (Canada) 83.30 2, Fitzsimmons (USA) 78.76 3... Henricksen (USA) 58.46 12, Collins (NZ) 58.36 13

6:51pm - American Henricksen scores 58.46, which becomes the bubble, as Collins falls out of the final spot. He still has another run to come.

6:48pm - Canadian Toutant improves on an opening run that had him languishing in 28th. He scores 71.06 for fifth and Collins is now officially on the bubble, sitting 12th.

6:45pm - Defending champion Gerard is into his second run, hoping to snag the top seeding for the final, but he wipes out off the 'Great Wall'. That won't improve him.

6:40pm - Swede Niklas Matsson is the last competitor in the round and Collins is currently 11th. Even if Matsson beats him, the Kiwi would be on the bubble.

He completely mistimes the second rail and falls, which will put him towards the bottom of the field.

Rankings after the first round are: 

Su (China) 86.80 1, Fitzsimmons (USA) 78.76 2, Gerard (USA) 78.20 3... Collins (NZ) 58.36 11

6:36pm - Canadian Darcy Sharpe having some mechnical malfunction on the start-line, so he will be pushing it to make the time limit at this rate. Repairs are complete, but he wipes out on his landing off the final 'Great Wall' feature.

That means Collins will be in a final spot with one round of qualifying left.

6:35pm - Hometown favourite Su Yiming catapults to the top of the standings with 86.80, pushing Collins to 11th with two riders left in the first round.

Su (China) 86.80 1, Fitzsimmons (USA) 78.76 2, Gerard (USA) 78.20 3... Collins (NZ) 58.36 11

6:28pm - Five more riders in the first round and Collins still in 10th, with 12 to progress. They all have another run, but the Kiwi there or thereabouts for now.

6:14pm - Italian Emiliano Lauzi grabs third with 71.71 and Collins falls to 10th, with 10 riders still remaining.

6:12pm - Russian Vladislav Khadarin pushes Collins back another spot, landing in seventh with 64.73. Collins now ninth.

6:10pm - American Sean Fitzsimmons surpasses teammate Gerard for the lead with 78.76, moving the bubble to 37.46. Kiwi Collins is still in the mix, sitting eighth.

6:05pm - Norwegian Stolle Sandbech produces 70.11 with his opening effort, matching Parrot and shunting Collins to eighth on the standings.

6pm - Canadian Max Parrot lands in third with 70.11, shunting Collins down to sixth, but still 17 riders left in the opening round.

5:54pm - Collins nails all his landings for a safe run, which should put him midfield early on. His 58.36 lands him in fifth, so he has something to build on.

5:52pm - Kiwi Collins is next up on the slope. Gerard still leads, but Norwegian Mons Roisland has just moved into second with 70.96.

5:43pm - After the first handful of athletes, American Redmond Gerard sets the early pace with 78.20, but a couple of boarders have already misfired on their opening efforts.

5:32pm - Phew, after the drama and excitement of Zoi Sadowski-Synnott's gold medal, we turn our attention to the men's slopestyle, where Kiwi Tiarn Collins will try to emulate his female teammate.

Collins was selected for Pyeongchang 2018, but suffered a training injury that prevented him from competing. He's seeded 12th, with 12 to qualify for tomorrow's final, and will be 11th to run from 30 entries.

Here's the full field:

Redmond Gerard (USA)

Sebastien Toutant (Canada)

Dusty Henricksen (USA)

Mark Mcmorris (Canada)

Marcus Kleveland (Norway)

Kaito Hamada (Japan)

Leon Vockensperger (Germany)

Noah Vicktor (Germany)

Rene Rinnekangas (Finland)

Mons Roisland (Norway)

Tiarn Collins (NZ)

Niek Van Der Velden (Netherlands)

Max Parrot (Canada)

Hiroaki Kunitake (Japan)

Staale Sandbech (Norway)

Clemens Millauer (Austria)

Sean Fitzsimons (USA)

Vladislav Khadarin (Russian Olympic Committee)

Emiliano Lauzi (Italy)

Nicolas Huber (Switzerland)

Chris Corning (USA)

Jonas Boesiger (Switzerland)

Kalle Jarvilehto (Finland)

Matthew Cox (Australia)

Sven Thorgren (Sweden)

Takeru Otsuka (Japan)

Ruki Tobita (Japan)

Yiming Su (China)

Darcy Sharpe (Canada)

Niklas Mattsson (Sweden)

3:52pm - Zoi lands her first two jumps and then her third, then celebrates. She thinks she's got it and is mobbed by her rivals.

She does it! that's clutch! Her score 92.88 puts her past Marino and into the gold-medal spot.

New Zealand's first Winter Olympic gold medal goes to Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.

3:49pm - Murase is ranked No.1 in the world and capable of storming the podium. She comes off the final jump a little shallow and crashes.

Sadowski-Synnott now, can she snatch gold? 

3:47pm - Rukajarvi wipes out, so Zoi will finish on the podium, bronze at least. What can Murase produce on her last run?

3:45pm - Austrian Gasser produces a spectacular run, but barely stays upright on her final landing. How will the judges rate that?

She improves to 75.33, but good for only sixth. 

3:42pm - Anderson wipes out off the 'shark fin' feature, so she won't medal today. The American remains in eighth.

3:41pm - Leader Marino slightly stumbles on her final landing, which could cost her a bigger score.

No improvement, now she must sit and wait... defending champion Anderson next.

3:37pm - Canadian Blouin is a medal threat, sitting fifth, and really nails her run. She improves to 81.41 and moves into fourth, but no medal today.

Marino (USA)  87.68 1, Sadowski-Synnott (NZ) 84.51 2, Coady (Australia) 84.15 3, Blouin (Canada) 81.41 4

3:35pm - Aussie Coady is in bronze-medal position, but hasn't stopped trying to improve. She does, scoring 84.15, just behind ZSS.

Marino (USA)  87.68 1, Sadowski-Synnott (NZ) 84.51 2, Coad (Australia) 84.15 3, Iwabuchi (Japan) 80.03 4

3:33pm - American Langland is constantly referred to as a 'style maven' by commentators, but that doesn't convert to performance, as she wipes out and can't improve on her 10th spot.

3:31pm - German Morgan can't improve on her seventh placing, after wiping out during her final run.

3:30pm - Iwabuchi sits just outside the medals and goes for it, but can't nail her landing. She remains in fourth.

3:27pm - Burri goes down on her third run and won't improve on 12th in her Olympic debut.

3:23pm - Zoi stumbles early and backs off midway through the course. Now everything will come down to her last run...

Placings after two rounds are:

Marino (USA)  87.68 1, Sadowski-Synnott (NZ) 84.51 2, Coad (Australia) 82.68 3, Iwabuchi (Japan) 80.03 4

3:20pm - Rukajarvi improves on her hesitant opening run, vaulting into sixth place. Murase next...

She missteps early and backs off, trying an ambitious move on her last jump, but wiping out.

ZSS up next...

3:18pm - Marino's score was actually better than ZSS achieved in qualifying, so the Kiwi will have to go somewhere new to win from here.

Meanwhile, Rukajarvi is next...

3:16pm - Anderson improves to seventh with 60.78, still well off the podium. Gasser uses an extra ramp for more speed off the start, but wipes out down the course...

3:13pm - American Marino puts together an improved run and snatches the lead off Sadowski-Synnott. Pressure now on the Kiwi, but first, double champion Anderson.

Marino (USA)  87.68 1, Sadowski-Synnott (NZ) 84.51 2, Coad (Australia) 82.68 3, Iwabuchi (Japan) 80.03 4

3:10pm - Canadian Blouin sits fourth and will need something better than 80 to retake a podium spot. She can't stick the final landing off the 'Great Wall' feature, so won't improve.

3:08pm - Coady over-rotates off the final jump, spoiling what could have been an impressive run. Early elements were better than her first run, but she still has that up her sleeve for the third run...

3:07pm - American Langland improves to seventh, but well off medal contention. Next up, Aussie Coady...

3:01pm - Iwabuchi sits just off the podium after the opening round, but improves to third with 80.03.

Sadowski-Synnott (NZ) 84.51 1, Coad (Australia) 82.68 2, Iwabuchi (Japan) 80.03 3, Blouin (Canada) 77.96 4

2:59pm - Second round begins and this is where the riders that canned their opening runs will try to put down a safe effort, so they can go for it on their last.

Burri improves only marginally, but leaves champion Anderson languishing at the bottom of the rankings.

2:55pm - Zoi nailed her landing off the 'shark fins', where most of her rivals have come unstuck. That's an impressive opening effort and should put her among the leaders.

Yep, 84.51 puts her on top after the opening round, but still not as good as her qualifying performance...

Sadowski-Synnott (NZ) 84.51 1, Coad (Australia) 82.68 2, Blouin (Canada) 77.96 3, Iwabuchi (Japan) 75.60 4

2:52pm - Japanese teenager Kokomo Murase wipes out on a landing, so she won't be among the pacesetters. Next up, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott...

2:50pm - Finn veteran Enni Rukajarvi was one of the best performaners in qualifying, but stumbles a little on landing, which will hurt her score. She backs off and scores just 30.51 for eighth.

2:49pm - Austrian Anna Gasser is defending big air champion, but she overbalances on a big jump here, so won't be among the leaders early.

2:46pm - Two-time defending champion Jamie Anderson wipes out early in her run, so she won't be among the leaders after the opeing round. 

2:43pm - Pyeongchang silver medallist Laurie Blouin nails her opening run and slips into second with 77.96.

Coad (Australia) 82.68 1, Blouin (Canada) 77.96 2, Iwabuchi (Japan) 75.60 3

2:40pm - Aussie Tess Coady produces a clean run and will likely slip into third, after American Hailey Langland blew her first run. In fact, she takes the early lead with 82.68, which would have put her second in yesterday's qualifying.

Coad (Australia) 82.68 1, Iwabuchi (Japan) 75.60 2, Morgan (Germany) 64.13 3

2:36pm - Already the standard of snowboarding has gone up a level from Saturday's preliminaries, with Morgan scoring 64.14, good for second.

2:34pm - Iwabuchi succeeds where Burri failed, producing a clean run that scores 75.60, better than her qualifying performance yesterday.

Morgan of Germany next...

2:31pm - Disaster for Burri, as she wipes out on a landing midway down the course, missing an opportunity to set an early standard for others to chase. She finishes the coures, but her score will be nominal.

Iwabuchi of Japan next...

2:27pm - Perfect conditions at the Genting Snow Park today, as we count down to the first run of the day, with Swiss Ariane Burri the opening competitor.

*****

Kia ora, good afternoon and welcome to Newhub's live coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics, where Kiwi snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott stands on the precipice of history, hoping to become New Zealand's first Winter Games champion.

A big air bronze medallist at Pyeongchang four years ago, Sadowski-Synnott has simply transformed into one of the world's top snowboard exponents since, winning back-to-back slopestyle world titles, and winning both slopestyle and big air events at last month's X-Games Aspen.

Already in great form before the Games, she reinforced her claims for gold on Saturday, when she lead the qualifying rounds, beating - among others - two-time defending champion Jamie Anderson of USA, who has dominated the discipline for the past decade.

Very rarely can New Zealand sports fans watch an Olympic event with the expectation one of our own can win - but this is one of those times.

By now, Sadowski-Synnott, 20, is well used to the pressure of top-level competition, but the Olympics have a habit of pulling surprises.

Today's 12-strong field includes all three 2018 medallists - Anderson, Canadian Laurie Blouin and Finn Enni Rukajarvi - while the Kiwi's closest rival in qualifying was Japanese debutant Kokomo Murase. 

Each athlete will have three attempts, with Sadowski-Synnott, as top qualifier, the last to compete. She will have the luxury of knowing exactly where she sits and what she must do to secure a medal, when she takes her final turn.

The running order for the slopestyle final is:

Ariane Burri (Switzerland)

Reira Iwabuchi (Japan)

Annika Morgan (Germany)

Hailey Langland (USA)

Tess Coady (Australia)

Laurie Blouin (Canada)

Julia Marino (USA)

Jamie Anderson (USA)

Anna Gasser (Austria)

Enni Rukajarvi (Finland)

Kokomo Murase (Japan)

Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZ)

Join us at 2:30pm for the start of slopestyle competition...