WASHINGTON — Chloe Kim is looking to become the first-ever back-to-back Olympic snowboarding champion in women's halfpipe.
The 21-year-old U.S. snowboarding star finished in the top spot in qualifying.
Kim really separates herself by being able to fly higher than any of the other women in the halfpipe. She capped off her victory at the last Olympics with back-to-back 1080-degree spins — a combination no woman had ever landed in a halfpipe. By doing so, she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold when she claimed the PyeongChang 2018 title for Team USA as a 17-year-old.
A 1080 is three full rotations in the air.
She has been very secretive about her plans for this year, but she offered a small hint as to what might be coming in the halfpipe final. Spoiler alert: The holy grail of riding is to be able to execute tricks in all four directions — forward front flip, forward back flip, backward front flip (called a “cab” jump) and backward back flip.
“That’s the way I want to push snowboarding is by really encouraging people to be a good all-around snowboarder and be able to spin all four ways," Kim said. "That’s my goal. I’m working on it and I’m really excited to show you guys.”
Now if Kim were to have an off day, many thought American Maddie Mastro might have been the one to scoop up the gold. She's been working on a frontside, double-cork 1080, an insanely difficult trick that involves two head-over-heels flips with one full twist. But Mastro finished 13th in qualifying and failed to advance to the final.
Still, maybe we'll see it: Kim has had this trick in her bag, too, but nobody has landed it in a competition.
Travis Pittman contributed to this report.