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Chloe Kim Secures Silver in Thrilling Halfpipe Final, Passing the Torch to Rising Star Choi Gaon
MILANO CORTINA, ITALY – American snowboarding sensation Chloe Kim, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, earned a silver medal in the women’s halfpipe competition on Thursday, narrowly missing her bid for an unprecedented third consecutive gold. The top honor went to South Korea’s 17-year-old phenom, Choi Gaon, who delivered a stunning comeback performance.
Choi’s path to victory was nothing short of dramatic. After an unsettling crash on an earlier run that momentarily silenced the crowd, the young athlete returned to the halfpipe with remarkable resolve. She then clinched the gold with an impressive score of 90.25 on her final run, eliciting a collective gasp of excitement from spectators.
Kim, 25, had one last opportunity to reclaim the lead but unfortunately fell on her final attempt, settling for the silver medal. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono secured the bronze.
The moment held particular significance as Kim, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea, has been a mentor and inspiration to Choi throughout her burgeoning career. “It’s all about passing the torch, so there’s no one else I would have rather stood next to on the podium than her,” Kim stated, expressing her pride and anticipation for Choi’s future endeavors.
Choi’s journey to gold seemed uncertain after her initial crash, which left her on the course for several minutes before medical staff attended to her. Despite the scare, she rode off unassisted and, against expectations, returned for her second run, successfully completing it. Her subsequent golden performance solidified her place in Olympic history.
Choi’s impressive resume includes becoming the youngest X Games winner in 2023 at just 14 years old. Now, as a first-time Olympian, she is the first non-American woman to claim gold in this premier snowboarding event since Australia’s Torah Bright in 2010.
Kim’s preparation for these Games was complicated by a shoulder injury sustained four weeks prior, forcing her to compete with a brace. Despite this setback, she dominated the qualifying rounds. Reflecting on the challenge, Kim acknowledged the difficulty of her lead-up, stating on Instagram last month, “Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard.”
Following Thursday’s final, Kim revealed that she will require shoulder surgery. She emphasized that winning any Olympic medal, given her injury, felt like a victory.
“I think that there was a lot of conversation happening about the three-peat,” she explained. “I was thinking about it before, but I think the minute I injured myself I was like, that doesn’t matter anymore.
So this feels like a win to me because a month ago it didn’t seem too possible.”
Kim initially appeared poised for another gold after scoring 88 points on her first run, while many other finalists struggled. However, she was unable to maintain her footing on her subsequent runs, and her initial score was ultimately not enough to secure the top spot.
In 2018, Kim became the youngest female snowboarder to win an Olympic gold. After a hiatus to focus on her studies and mental well-being, she returned to competition, earning her second consecutive Olympic gold in Beijing.
Kim is not alone in narrowly missing a third consecutive Winter Olympics gold at these Games. Czech Ester Ledecka in Alpine snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom and Austria’s Anna Gasser in big air, both two-time defending champions, also fell short of the milestone. American snowboarding icon Shaun White, who was among the spectators, won three halfpipe gold medals (2006, 2010, 2018) but not consecutively.
The crowd, which included Kim’s boyfriend, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, and even Snoop Dogg, had gathered to witness a potential historic moment for one of snowboarding’s biggest stars. Instead, they watched Choi Gaon, tears in her eyes, proudly hold her gold medal, standing a step above her idol on the podium.