Winning gold in snowboard halfpipe, Chloe Kim made history, as the first woman to take back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the category. Watch her first ride on YouTube via NBC Olympics. The only American to make it to Thursday’s final, 21-year-old Chloe Kim won with her first run at 94 points, which was an entire four points higher than the rest of the pack. Spain's Queralt Castellet, came in at second with a silver medal, followed by Sena Tomita of Japan with a bronze.
“I was dealing with all sorts of emotions [before the contest], but I reminded myself I just have to land one run, and I was so happy to do that.”
After her outstanding performance in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018, Kim faced pressure to repeat her win. She fell during her qualifiers uncharacteristically due to nerves, but pulled herself together to land the best run, atop the field.
During the event, in her first run, Kim went high above the pipe, landing several technical tricks such as a switch 900 and a backside 540 while bookmarking her opening run with 1080s and scoring a solid and unbeatable 94 on the board. After the run, Kim was awash with emotions, dropping to her knees, crying and laughing. When the score posted to the board, she got up and began to walk around, hugging people.
All 12 women competed at their best, showing progressions and 1080s unlike any prior Olympic halfpipe events, but none could hold a torch to Kim’s first run.
In 2018, Kim, the daughter of South Korean immigrants, won gold in South Korea. Her talent was unmistakable. At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Kim was considered too young to compete as a 13-year-old, but her results would have qualified for the team. She was already competing professionally by then. She went on to make her Olympic debut at 17 years of age, landing a run that was more progressive than any woman had ever done in half pipe snowboarding before. While still in high school, Kim also became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboard gold medal since 1998 when snowboarding became an Olympic sport.
Fast forward to today and Kim is riding at a level unmatched by any other woman and more motivated by becoming her best and pushing the sport forward, than winning contests alone. View our Profile post of lessons learned from Olympic athletes in 2018.
View her results in Women’s Halfpipe.
Kim’s first gold medal won in snowboarding events for the United States came hot on the heels of Julia Marino’s surprise silver medal in slopestyle snowboarding.
© US Ski & Snowboard Team via NBC Olympics
