Chloe Kim fell short in her bid to become the first Olympic snowboarder to win three consecutive gold medals, finishing second to Choi Gaon of South Korea in the women's halfpipe on Thursday.
The 17-year-old Choi dethroned the two-time defending champion with a score of 90.25 on her final run.
Kim had one more shot to get back on top but the 25-year-old American wiped out on her last of three runs to settle for silver. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono claimed bronze.
Choi took a hard tumble on her first run before stunning Kim and the rest of the crowd gathered on a snowy night in the Italian Alps. Choi slammed into the incline of the halfpipe and slid to the middle of the course, where she remained for several minutes. After being attended to by medical staff, she rode off the course unassisted.
It wasn't clear that she would even come back for her second run, but she did and got it down. Then came her turn down the halfpipe that was good for gold.
Choi became the youngest X Games winner in 2023 at age 14. Now the first-time Olympian is first non-American woman to win gold in snowboarding’s premier event since Torah Bright of Australia in 2010. Kaitlyn Farrington won for the U.S. in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics, and Kim triumphed in Pyeongchang and Beijing.
Kim is not alone in letting the milestone of golds in three consecutive Winter Olympics slip away at these Games.
Czech Ester Ledecka fell short in Alpine snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom, as did Austria’s Anna Gasser in big air. Both were two-time defending champions.
American snowboarding great Shaun White won three gold medals on the halfpipe, but not consecutively. He won in 2006, 2010 and 2018. He finished fourth in 2014.
White was in the crowd Thursday and cringed after Kim fell on her final run. Kim's boyfriend, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, was also in her cheering section, along with Snoop Dogg.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
