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Kim dominates halfpipe, earning third U.S. snowboarding gold
Team USA gold medalist Chloe Kim, center, and bronze medalist Arielle Gold, right, who is from Steamboat Springs, pose Tuesday with silver medalist Jiayu Liu of China during the medals ceremony for women’s halfpipe snowboarding at the PyeongChang Olympic Games in South Korea. Kim is a 17-yearold from Torrance, Calif.
IBONGPYEONG, SOUTH KOREA» t’s Chloe Kim’s halfpipe. Everyone else is a visitor.
The 17-year-old boarding prodigy sailed to America’s third gold in three days Tuesday in the Olympic halfpipe with flawless 1080s and unrivaled style.
The crowd at the sprawling venue roared its approval for the KoreanAmerican teenager from California as she danced down the pipe. The rest of the 12-athlete field fought to follow. In one of the most progressive halfpipe contests in history, a half-dozen athletes spun 1080s, including Steamboat Springs’ Arielle Gold, who spent her Christmas break learning that demanding three-rotation trick. The 1080 was part of a larger overhaul by Gold, who reignited her passion for snowboarding this year with a mental and physical effort that culminated with the Olympic podium that eluded her in the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
“It’s not even the results. It’s just like the whole experience, the whole process has been so much more enjoyable for me,” she said, grasping the American flag around her shoulders. “I know people can see it in my riding and I can feel it every time I go up on the hill.”
While Steamboat fields a bounty of Olympians every cycle, including here in South Korea, the number who return with medals is much smaller.
“I think that Steamboat is proud to have so many Olympians here, but to be able to bring home a medal to the town that has given me so much is amazing,” Gold said.
A year ago, there were two female snowboarders in the world who spun 1080s in the halfpipe: Kim and fivetime Olympian Kelly Clark. On Tuesday, five athletes did the trick and the one’s who did it best won medals. For her third and final run — a victory lap with her gold already locked down — Kim upped her first-run score with a pair of back-to-back 1080s, a combination only she has mastered. The home crowd erupted as she scored a 98.25.
Kim said she wasn’t going to be satisfied going home with a gold medal knowing she could have thrown down a better run.
“I put on a really good first run, but I was also like I can do better than that and I can one-up myself. That third
“It’s not even the results. It’s just like the whole experience, the whole process has been so much more enjoyable for me. I know people can see it in my riding, and
I can feel it every time I go up on the hill.”
Chloe Kim, after winning gold in the snowboard halfpipe
run was just to prove to myself that I can do better,” she said, noting that she spent the time between her runs on social media, tweeting things like how she wished she’d finished her breakfast sandwich because she was “getting hungry.” “I was trying to distract myself and think of things in a positive way.”
China’s Jiayu Liu won silver with a solid 1080 and big switch airs. Veteran Clark finished just behind Gold in fourth, throwing the 1080 that she pioneered in the pipe and has since spread like wildfire among competitors half her age.
“I think so much of the time the Olympics can be something that you just survive and make it through and today I was calling all the shots,” Clark said. “I enjoyed myself and managed myself well and I rode well.”
Clark, 34, is nearing the end of a stellar career that has made her the most decorated snowboarder in the sport. No one has climbed more podiums.
“I don’t think a lot of people get to stay around long enough to see what their legacies could be,” she said. “This U.S. team is an incredible group of talented young women and I’m so proud of them. I think my Olympic career could end today, but theirs is just getting started.”