It was some sort of year for New Zealand snow sports.
Wānaka wonder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott became the most decorated snowboarder of all time, Ben Richards was crowned the inaugural FIS freeride world champion and Queenstown ski ace Alice Robinson pocketed her first career world cup victory in super G.
Small wonder the Snow Sports New Zealand awards were hotly contested this year.
Ultimately, though, Sadowski-Synnott was a worthy winner of the overall athlete of the year category.
The snowboarding great won two silver medals at the Milano Cortina Olympics, banked two silvers at the X Games and won the Natural Selection Tour championship title.
The award was presented to Sadowski-Synnott at the Snow Sports NZ awards in Wānaka on Friday night.
She also won the snowboarder of the year accolade at the annual event.
Fellow Olympic medallist Luca Harrington was named freeskier of the year.
Harrington, ranked No 2 in the world in freeski big air, won bronze in slopestyle at Milano Cortina, along with two X Games golds.
Richards was named freeride athlete of the year after an almost perfect series of wins across the Freeride World Tour and inaugural FIS freeride world championship.
Robinson was an obvious choice for alpine ski racer of the year.
She had a thrilling season of world cup podiums concluding with a second place overall finish in super G and a fifth place global standing in women’s alpine ski racing.
New Zealand para alpine skier Adam Hall delivered an outstanding performance to win a silver medal in the men’s slalom standing at the Milano Cortina Paralympic Games, earning him the adaptive athlete of the year award.
The achievement marked Hall’s sixth career Paralympic medal, equalling the record for most medals in New Zealand Winter Paralympic history.
Rising star Dane Menzies was named breakthrough athlete of the year after making two finals at the Olympics.
Robert Barry (Cardrona and Treble Cone) was named instructor of the year, Hamish McDougall was named coach of the year and Maria Kan and Geoff Hunt claimed the masters awards. — Allied Media