American snowboarding star Chloe Kim mentioned Thursday that she took “the silliest fall” in coaching and dislocated her shoulder, threatening her probability to win a 3rd straight gold medal at subsequent month’s Winter Olympics in Italy.
Kim posted video of the accident in Laax, Switzerland, earlier this week as she practiced for a key Olympic tune-up there subsequent weekend. She tumbled to the snow and went skittering throughout the halfpipe.
She didn’t say which shoulder she damage and that she was “attempting to remain optimistic” about competing at the Olympics however “I don’t have a lot readability now.” The 25-year-old mentioned she has an MRI scheduled for Friday that may reveal the extent of the injury.
“The constructive factor is, I’ve vary, I’m not in that a lot ache, I simply don’t need it to maintain coming out, which has occurred,” she mentioned. “I’m simply attempting to remain actually optimistic. I really feel actually good about the place my snowboarding is at proper now, so I do know the minute I get cleared and I’m good to go, I must be high quality.”
Kim’s absence would deprive the Winter Video games of one among its largest names and one among its finest storylines. She is attempting to turn into the primary action-sports athlete to win three straight gold medals. Shaun White took three halfpipe golds, however they have been unfold out over 5 video games.
Kim was the breakout star of the 2018 Olympics, a bubbly teenager taking gold in her mother and father’ dwelling nation of South Korea. 4 years in the past in China, she won again, with that victory punctuated by her messages concerning the ups and downs of success and fame.
By way of all of it, no person has come near beating her.
Two years in the past on the Winter X Video games, Kim grew to become the primary lady to tug off a 1260-degree spin in competitors. Earlier than that, she was the primary lady to land a double-cork 1080 — two flips and one spin — and the primary to land back-to-back 1080s.
She was engaged on including to that repertoire for the Milan Cortina Video games and, if wholesome, could be the heavy favourite to win once more. This harm throws all that in query. The Olympic qualifying spherical in girls’s halfpipe is Feb. 11.
The Laax Open is scheduled for subsequent weekend, and even when Kim have been to get a clear invoice of well being, there’s a probability she would head into the Olympics with out having competed within the closing of a contest this season.
Kim certified for the U.S. group by profitable a contest final yr and has stored a lightweight schedule in ’25-26. She fell during warmups for the ultimate in Copper Mountain, Colorado, final month and pulled out after hurting her shoulder then, as effectively. That harm was not believed severe.
Concerning her newest shoulder harm, she mentioned: “It must be high quality. I’m simply hoping that it doesn’t take too lengthy, however I’m going to be chilling for the following few minutes.”
