Snow swirled, Snoop Dogg shizzled but Chloe Kim fell short in her attempt to soar to Olympic snowboard history on a dramatic and star-struck night at the Livigno Snow Park.
Snoop, in Italy as a special correspondent for US broadcaster NBC, joined the likes of halfpipe hero Shaun White and Kim’s boyfriend, the NFL star Myles Garrett, to see if she could become the first snowboarder to win three consecutive Olympic golds.
Instead the rapper – wearing a ski jacket embossed with images of Kim – was left paying homage to South Korean 17-year-old Gaon Choi, who recovered from an horrific-looking crash on her first run to eclipse the American favourite with a third run score of 90.25.
Left with one final attempt to wrest back gold, Kim fell attempting a cab double 1080, the same trick that had cost her in her second run, stranding her in second place on 88.0, more than two points down on Thursday’s qualification score.
It was a stunning twist to an absorbing competition high in the Italian Alps, where heavy snowfall made conditions difficult, contributing to five crashes among the 12 finalists at the first attempt.
The most scary was Choi’s, which left her face-down in the middle of the pipe, where she lay motionless for a moment while a stretcher was called. Thankfully, she was soon able to slide to the foot of the pipe unaided.
Kim, competing in her first major competition since dislocating her shoulder in January, looked set to soar serenely above the chaos as she duly delivered her first run total and sat seemingly impervious at the top of the leaderboard.
Though she failed to improve at her second attempt, there still seemed little danger to her hopes of eclipsing former US team-mate White, whose own three gold medals were split by a fourth place in Sochi in 2014.
Out of nowhere Choi, whose recovery itself was remarkable enough, delivered a stunning final run, including a switch backside nine, to eclipse her hero and take gold at the same age that Kim was when she won her first Olympic title in Pyeongchang.
“It’s the kind of story you only see in your dreams,” said Choi. “My knees are a bit bad (after the crash), but I feel like I’m overcoming it all with happiness.”
The impact that Kim has had on her discipline was evident in a top nine that comprised entirely Asian or Asian-origin athletes, some of whom would have barely strapped on a board when Kim clinched her first gold in 2018.
“It means so much to me that I’ve inspired a whole new generation,” said an emotional Kim afterwards. “I’m aware I can’t do this for ever and seeing this sport is left in very good hands. I’m so proud of her (Choi), and I hope she soaks in this amazing moment.”
