Kiwis ends Olympic drought

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: After going 26 years without a Winter Olympics medal, rugby-mad New Zealand toasted a pair of fresh-faced schoolchildren on Thursday as they captured bronze in snowboard and freestyle skiing.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous, both 16, reached the podium to emulate countrywoman Annelise Coberger, who skied her way to a silver medal in slalom in 1992 — well before they were born.

At 16 years and 353 days, Sadowski-Synnott became New Zealand’s youngest Olympic medallist after finishing third behind Austria’s Anna Gasser and American Jamie Anderson in Friday’s inaugural snowboard Big Air competition. The previous record was held by swimmer Danyon Loader, who won a silver medal as a 17-year-old at the 1992 Barcelona Games. But with social media in New Zealand already fritzing out over Sadowski-Synnott’s feat, along came Porteous to break the age record again in the men’s freestyle ski halfpipe a little over an hour later.