After being the only rider to break the 90 point plateau during last night’s preliminary rounds for Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe, Chloe Kim is on track to win her first Olympic gold medal later this evening.
Her first run — a 91.50 — was already something worth talking about. If that wasn’t enough, the 17-year-old stomped her final run, upping her score to 95.50. THIS IS 7.75 POINTS HIGHER than second place finalist Liu Jiayu from China’s best run!
Ever since Kim landed back to back 1080s at X Games Aspen last month, the teen snowboarder has been unstoppable in the pipe. She’s been working really hard at practice and plans to attempt (and land) the trick again in the biggest competition of her career tonight.
Following the amazing win at X Games, we asked Chloe if she ever had thoughts of just saving the trick for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Her response was priceless, showing how much she really enjoys the sport and is hungry for that coveted win.
“No, not at all! I was so stoked that I was able to put it down tonight and I’m really excited to do it again in South Korea,” she said.
We continued the conversation by asking her about the progression of women’s snowboarding. More women have been seen throwing down the same tricks as the guys lately, and Kim is super stoked about it.
“I think it’s so cool where snowboarding for women is going. I’m so happy to be apart of this progression and to be joined by all these other girls. I think it’s really amazing and inspirational,” Chloe told Celeb Secrets. “As a team, we are so excited to watch each other progress and push each other and I think that’s the true beauty of it.”
Make sure to watch Chloe Kim and the rest of her Team USA teammates Kelly Clark, Arielle Gold, and Maddie Mastro compete for a medal in the Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe final tonight at 8PM ET on NBC.