Kiwi teenager Mischa Thomas loses phone, gains diploma at Winter Olympics

New Zealand has finished the Winter Olympics in Italy in 22nd place on the table.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott’s two snowboarding silver medals and Luca Harrington’s freesking slopestyle bronze make up the Kiwi tally.

It’s the same number of medals from Beijing four years ago, but the colours are different.

Sadowski-Synnott won a gold and a silver medal at the previous Games with retired freeskier Nico Porteous also winning gold.

A golden moment came from the last Kiwi competing at the Games though.

17 year-old freeskier Mischa Thomas finishing eighth in the halfpipe final with a score of 77.75.

“Pretty sick!” Thomas exclaimed on Sky Sport..

“Yeah, I’m so happy.  So happy to be a part of that as well, it was a really high level of riding, definitely pushed myself.”

The Aucklander posted her best score on her first run before losing her phone on the second.

“So I was taking a photo at the top, like a double-sided selfie, and I was in a bit of a rush and I just forgot about it.”

The phone was returned intact from an official as Thomas celebrated an incredible Games debut by securing an Olympic diploma for her top-eight finish.

The teenager came across as relaxed while competing but admits she struggled to get to sleep before her event.

“I took some melatonin last night because my sleep schedule’s been pretty bad.” Thomas said.

“But I was excited, excited to be here.”

The future looks extremely bright for the relatively young New Zealand team, who are set to collect more medals at the next Winter Olympics in the French Alps in 2030.