Chloe Kim makes it back-to-back golds with Beijing 2022 win
Feb 10, 2022·Snowboard Park & Pipe
The best halfpipe in the world saw one of the best women’s finals of all time go down on Thursday morning at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, where Chloe Kim (USA) became the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic golds with a standout first run that would easily withstand all challenges.
Kim came into Beijing 2022 competition at Genting Snow Park with the weight of the world on her shoulders, having been marketed as one of the ‘faces of the Games’ for months leading up to competition and touted by essentially everyone as an overwhelming favourite for gold.
If the expectations for Kim were lofty, it’s only because they were based on fact, as the 21-year-old has done little else but win throughout her entire career - including the past two seasons when she has lead every phase of every competition entered since she returned to snowboarding from a 22-month sabbatical at the start of 2020/21.
After once again putting down the top qualification score on Wednesday, Kim dropped in last for the first run on Thursday and proceeded to do what she’s done so many times before in her career, stomping the kind of run that simply nobody else in the woman’s field can come close to.
Leading off with a picture-perfect method, Kim then launched the giant frontside 1080 tail grab that has been a staple of her run for half-decade now, into a cab 900 melon, then a switch backside 540 weddle, before finishing things off with a hammer, stomping a cab 1080 stalefish, earning herself a score 94.00.
Kim’s celebration after landing the cab 1080 said it all, as the stress of the lead-up to the Games - combined with a morning training session that she said from the finish area had been less than ideal - all washed away once she finished the job that was expected of her.
“I was so proud of myself,” Kim said of her reaction following the winning run, “I had the worst practice, ever. I probably landed my run twice when I’m used to landing it eight times, normally, and so that puts you in a weird headspace. It felt so inconsistent. I didn’t want to feel all that pressure of having to land my first safety run (in competition). I overflowed with emotion when I was able to land it on the first go, and it opened up a lot of opportunity for me to go try something new (in her second and third runs).”
Try something new in her final two runs she did indeed, and although she was unsuccessful, when she does indeed put down the cab 1260 she was going for it will be the most progressive trick ever landed by a woman in competition.
“It was worth it for sure, 1000%,” Kim said of trying the 1260, “That’s what keeps me going. I wish I’d landed it, but next time. I just learned those pretty recently, and I’ve been doing quite bit of them. But I haven’t really done them in this halfpipe, so I was curious to see what would happen. Definitely didn’t go my way, but it’s OK. I did it once in practice, and it went well. We’ll try it another day.”
Second place went to the most experienced rider in the field, as 32-year-old Queralt Castellet of Spain finally earned her piece of Olympic hardware in her fifth time competing at the Games.
After receiving what she felt to be a low score of 69.25 for her first attempt, Castellet returned to the top of the pipe for run two, dropped in, and stepped her game significantly.
Leading things off with a risky switch backside 540 stalefish, Castellet then stomped a Haakonflip melon and a huge frontside air, before finishing off with a couple hammers of her own, with a backside 900 weddle into a frontside 900 melon combination to finish things off resulting in a score of 90.25 and a long-awaited Olympic silver medal and the first Olympic women's snowboard medal for Spain.
“It’s been an incredible day,” said Castellet when the dust had settled, “I started off a little on the wrong foot and after that first run, I felt all the nerves, I felt all the pressure, I had all these thoughts about why this is important to me. And in spite of all that, I also felt this strength that came from I don’t know where in order to pull off that run. And, I finished with second place.
“I am extremely happy, to be honest,” Castellet went on, “The second place in behind Chloe Kim is incredible. She is an incredible athlete. It’s an enormous honour for which I am very proud. I wanted this very much, and I’ve been working for this over many years. After so many efforts at the Games, it’s easy to begin doubting and asking why I don’t achieve. And finally being able to do it is, simply, something I’m very proud of.”
Third place with an exceptional performance of her own went to Japan’s Sena Tomita, as the 22-year-old rolled out of her win at this year’s X Games a few weeks ago to claim Beijing 2022 bronze on Thursday with a second run that began with a frontside 900 melon, into a backside 540 weddle, then a frontside 720 indy, a cab 720 weddle, and finally a frontside 1080 tail grab for a score of 88.25 and, somewhat surprisingly for the strong halfpipe nation, the first Olympic pipe podium for a Japanese woman.
"I am really happy that I got the first one for Japan,” Tomita said about her performance, “Everybody was very aggressive, and in that kind of competitive environment I got a medal. That has given me a lot of confidence.”
Snowboard competition at Beijing 2022 continues on Friday with one of the most hotly-anticipated events events of the Games, as the star-studded men’s final is set to go down beginning at 9:30 local time.
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