American snowboarder Chloe Kim has claimed the Winter Olympic gold medal in the women’s halfpipe snowboarding at just 17 years old.
Kim – a California native with family ties to South Korea, where this year’s games are being held – was a favourite going into the Pyeongchang Games, and she did not disappoint.
The teenager completed an impressive first run that put her in the lead by 8.25 points. Already the obvious victor by her third and final run, she finished it off with her signature back-to-back 1080s – a complex move that she became the first woman to land at the US Grand Prix in 2016.
Kim even found time to crack jokes on social media between the runs, tweeting: “Wish I finished my breakfast sandwich but my stubborn self decided not to and now I’m getting hangry.”
The final run earned Kim a near-perfect score of 98.25, earning her her first Olympic gold medal and cementing her status as a star of US snowboarding. Fellow American Arielle Gold took home the bronze, while China’s Liu Jiayu won silver.
"I am a little overwhelmed," said Kim. "It's the best outcome I could have asked for, it's been such a long journey.
"This whole experience has been insane. You hear so much about the Olympics but actually being a part of it is a completely different story. I am so fortunate to be able to go through it.
"To share my story with the world has been amazing."
The medal was America's third gold of the games, all in snowboarding. Kim could easily have settled for the victory after her first two runs, but she did not want to end the final without putting on a show.
"I knew if I went home with the gold medal knowing I could do better I wasn't going to be very satisfied," she added. "I did put down a really good run (in the first run) but I was like - 'I can do better than that'.
"I knew that I wanted to do that third run, I wanted to do the back-to-back 10s, go bigger and better."
Kim’s parents were born in Seoul, South Korea, and many of her extended family members still live in the country. Her parents met in Switzerland, and eventually settled in Long Beach, C
