LIVIGNO, Italy — Torn labrum and all, there’s no slowing down Chloe Kim when there’s an Olympic halfpipe in sight.
The American superstar snowboarder showed it’s all systems go for her third consecutive gold medal Wednesday, putting down a clean qualifying run that scored 90.25 — nearly three points better than Japan’s Sara Shimizu with American Maddie Mastro qualifying in third place.
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Though scores reset for Thursday’s final, when riders get three attempts to show their best, Kim’s almost effortless trick execution and noticeably elite amplitude on her first qualifying attempt answered every question about the mental and physical preparation she might have had coming into her third Olympics.
“I knew I could do it,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for 22 years. Muscle memory is a thing. I might be better at snowboarding than I am at walking. Obviously there’s some nerves, but I think at the Olympics, I’m just so happy I made it — especially this time around.”
In January, Kim slammed her left shoulder into the top of the pipe during a crash in Switzerland, limiting much of her preparation for these Games. She spoke Monday about the brace she has to wear to compete, joking that it might actually make her better. Kim was also anxious because she hadn’t taken part in a serious competition in nearly a year.
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But all it took was one run to prove yet again that when she’s even close to her best, she’s just better than everyone else in women’s halfpipe.
“She played it well by taking time off to rest and recover after it unfortunately happened,” said teammate Madeline Schaffrick, who finished 15th and did not qualify for the finals. “Chloe was very smart about it.”
Kim’s qualifying run, which included a cab 1080 and a frontside 900, was not as ambitious as what she plans for Thursday’s final. She revealed that there were “maybe two hits” from the qualifying run that will be part of her final program. With riders having three chances in the final to nail their run, Kim said she won’t feel quite as much pressure.
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“I’m really excited,” she said. “I think I feel like I’m in a good place. I’ve landed all the components of my finals run, I just haven’t put them all together. So I’ll get to do it on the big day.”
As far as her health, Kim said the shoulder has been “very well behaved” and that there haven’t been any setbacks.
“I’ve been working relentlessly on getting it as strong as possible, and obviously the shoulder brace is really helpful,” she said. “We have an amazing medical staff and an amazing physical therapist. So it takes a village, but it’s working.”
Kim’s will attempt to make history Thursday by becoming the first snowboarder to win three consecutive golds. Shaun White won halfpipe gold three times but in 2006, 2010 and 2018.
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Some of Kim’s strongest opposition might come from within Team USA.
Mastro, who missed the finals by one spot in 2022, said she was so nervous Wednesday morning she couldn’t get any food down and was looking forward to the pasta bolognese in the athletes’ lounge now that her place in the final is secure. She actually put down two very good runs, improving on her second try to get in third position.
“I haven’t always had the best Olympic performances or qualifiers so after my first run, I was just really happy to land one and perform that way,” she said. “It washed away some anxieties, a lot of anxious energy. I can finally eat, which is nice.”
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Team USA will have a third entrant in the 12-rider finals with 19-year old Bea Kim, who will enroll at Columbia this fall, advancing in her first Olympics.
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