Chloe Takes Second in Mammoth

Essentially repeating her performance last week at the Grand Prix in Snowmass, Kim kept it mellow on Saturday night knowing that with her place on the Olympic team secure, staying healthy was paramount to pushing it. With that, it was apparent she was pumping the brakes and charging the pipe with about half the ferocity we have seen from her in the past. Still, she almost won.

With a run that consisted of the biggest air of the night by a woman (a massive method), a frontside 1080 tail grab, a cab 720, a McTwist and a frontside five, some of Kim’s biggest tricks were notably missing from her run. Fully capable of 900’s and with the only 10 to 10 combo in women’s halfpipe she was obviously not trying to win. Yet, with a score of 87.00 she almost did!

Tonight though was all about putting down a run and keeping the forward momentum moving toward bigger things. And after the event the moment she was waiting for finally came as the announcement was made that Kim had officially earned a spot representing Team USA in women’s halfpipe snowboarding at the XXIII Winter Olympic Games. Along with Monster Energy teammate Jaime Anderson who will compete in Slopestyle, Kim will wear the red, white and blue when the games kick off on Friday, February 9^th in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Kim, who is just 17-years-old, has taken the snowboard world by storm in recent years with style, skills and amplitude never before seen in a women’s halfpipe rider, is widely considered the favorite to bring home the gold.