Chloe Kim entered Thursday’s halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics hoping to make history, and become the first snowboarder to secure gold in three consecutive Games.
It looked as if she needed just her first run to get the job done.
The Team USA star absolutely crushed her first run, starting things off with a backside 720, then a switch backside air, and into a switch double cork 1080 to get it going. But she was not done from there.
You can see that first full run here:
That earned her an 88.00 to set the standard after the first set of runs from the finalists.
On her second run, Kim started the same way but tried to tack on a pair of double corks to close it out, but she could not stick that trick and failed to post a score. Still, her score of 88.00 still topped the standings heading into the final runs.
But then came the big twist midway through the third and final round. Young South Korean snowboarder Choi Ga-on, at just 17 years old, crushed her final run. Despite suffering a hard crash in her first run, Choi nailed her third run, including a trio of 900s, and jumped into first with a 90.25. For a moment, it looked as if she was going to withdraw due to the fall, but instead Choi delivered a run good enough for first.
The penultimate run of the night came from Japan’s Sara Shimizu, who delivered a beautiful run but only climbed to fourth with an 84.00.
The stage was Kim’s, with history on the line. Could she hit the back-to-back doubles she missed on her second run?
Kim missed the landing on the first double, and was forced to settle for silver. Instead the gold goes to an athlete she inspired, and mentored, in Choi. It is the first medal for South Korea in this event, and it is indeed a gold.
Mitsuki Ono of Japan took the bronze.
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