Kim seeks golden repeat at Beijing

21-year-old American snowboarder is raring to defend her title in China

LOS ANGELES:

Defending Olympic women's halfpipe champion Chloe Kim, one of the standout stars of the last Winter Olympics, travels to Beijing with a new perspective and triumphs in all five events since ending a layoff of nearly two years.

The 21-year-old American snowboarder of South Korean heritage has been stunning since returning last January after interrupting her career when she broke her right ankle and also attended Princeton University.

In a rich vein of form, she says she is raring to defend her title in China.

"I have a very clear picture what I need to do as an athlete and going into the Olympics I'm very well prepared," Kim told the Olympic Channel.

"I'm going to go in with the same mindset as the last one, just no pressure. I'm going to do the best I can and we'll see what happens."

Kim extended her win streak at last month's event in Copper Mountain, Colorado. After falling in her first two runs, she unleashed two of her trademark three-rotation 1080 spins to win the title.

"With the Olympics right around the corner, this is a great way to start the season," Kim said.

"I'm so happy to have landed it. I don't want to leave myself in that position again. It was horrible."

Kim, whose parents are from South Korea, became the first woman to land 1080 in halfpipe competition in 2016 as a 15-year-old. She won halfpipe and slopestyle gold at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games.

At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, she captured halfpipe gold at age 17, becoming the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboard title.

Kim won world halfpipe titles in 2019 and 2021 and owns six Winter X Games SuperPipe crowns, the most recent coming last year in Aspen.

But Kim's life out of the competitive arena has proven more challenging.

In a recent interview she revealed how she had struggled to relax during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"My boyfriend had to make me stop watching the news, because I would literally sit in front of the TV and cry," Kim told the New York Times. "I didn't really know what the symptoms of depression were -- I just thought it meant you were sad, which is not the case.