US snowboarder Chloe Kim stunned by South Korea's Gaon Choi, settles for silver in women's halfpipe
United States snowboarder Chloe Kim couldn't make it three straight gold medals in the women's halfpipe event on Thursday, falling on her final run to give South Korea’s Gaon Choi gold at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Kim still won silver after her 88.00 finish on her first run, which sat in first place throughout the halfpipe final until Choi, who had two scary falls on her first two runs, was emotional after a clean run landed a whopping 90.25 score to overtake first place.
Kim, who fell on her second run, still had a chance to get her top score back. But she fell halfway through, and the South Korean team was jumping for joy knowing gold was secured.
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Kim, who has won gold in the previous two Olympics, may have seen her reign ended in the event. But she was all smiles, heading straight for Choi to celebrate with her.
Alongside Choi and bronze medal winner Mitsuki Ono from Japan, Kim continued to point at the South Korean victor as the camera caught them together at the bottom of the hill.
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Choi is just 17 years old, and was considered the biggest threat to Kim entering the event. She had won the X Games at only 14 years old, and it was time for her first Olympics in Milan. The two falls didn’t seem promising, but she made it count on the final run.
Kim, an eight-time X Games gold medalist and three-time World Champion, was looking to make Olympic history in this year’s tournament.
She would have become the first snowboarder, man or woman, to ever win three consecutive gold medals. U.S. legend Shaun White collected three Olympic golds, but he never did it consecutively.
Kim did say before the event that she would be content with the results either way.
"I’m just going to do what I came here to do, and if they decide to give it to me, then awesome," she said, per NBC News. "But I’m really just grateful to be in the position where I’ve won all these events multiple times. The fact that I’m able to be here and riding and being confident is all I can ask for."
Kim had a family contingent in Milan, which also featured her boyfriend, Cleveland Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett, fresh off winning the Defensive Player of the Year after breaking the single-season sack record.
Kim’s silver medal marked the 14th for the United States at the Milan Cortina Games.
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