ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Snowboarder Chloe Kim achieved a solid first round — one of her best performances ever – while the U.S. starter effortlessly defended her Olympic title in the crescent on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Californian was the last runner to start in the half-moon and the competition had already ended, and tried to get big one last time. She fell, rose and, being an Olympic champion, casually slipped the rest of the crescent way. She greeted her fellow medalists downstairs with a hug.
On this day, the only real drama for the second place was the 32-year-old Spaniard Queralt Castellet, who won silver in her fifth participation in the Olympic Games. Japan’s Sena Tomita won bronze ahead of China’s Cai Xuetong.
No one matched Kim’s size or the sophisticated range of towers. Not after an opening performance that included a variety of different twists and turns including a front and rear 1080 (three turns each). This flawless race seemed to surprise her, even as she covered her mouth with excitement. She after told a trainer that it was the best thing she did.
Kim joins his compatriot Shaun White as the only snowboarder to defend his Olympic title in the halfpipe. White completed the feat and 10. As the reigning champion of the Games in Pyeongchang, White can repeat this on Friday.
IOC President Thomas Bach and Chinese acrobat Eileen Gu, who recently won the Olympic big air competition, took part in the competition on Thursday. They received a great performance from Kim, who won at the age of 17 at the Pyeongchang Games. Gu hugged Kim after one of his three races.
Kim went there in his second run, trying to pass a difficult 1260 (3 1/2 laps). But she could not glue the landing and fell on her back. On her Instagram stories page, she wrote, “Ow my butt,” with a photo of her aching face.
Although she knew that she had sewn the gold, there was not much celebration before the last attempt. No, there was still work to be done — trying to land the 1260. She almost did, too, before she faded and slipped off the rest of the way.
That’s how dominant Kim has been: she hasn’t lost a competition. Even then, Kim had a good reason – she was competing over what turned out to be a broken ankle.
“She’s really pushing the sport so hard,” Cai said. “We, the other girls, are trying to challenge her.”
