Watch Chloe Kim Dominate (as Usual) With a Smooth, Gravity-Defying Grand Prix Win
Chloe Kim just keeps dominating. The 20-year-old snowboarding star won the US Halfpipe Grand Prix in Aspen, CO, on Sunday, just over a week after clinching her second consecutive world championship (on a sprained ankle, no less). It only took her one run to do it, and once you watch it, you'll see why.
In her run, Kim pulled off elite jumps like a switch 900 and switch backside 360 ("switch" means she was snowboarding with her opposite foot forward) while also landing a huge inverted 540, aka a McTwist. And in trademark Kim style, she made it all look unbelievably easy. That first run, scoring a whopping 90.50, was enough to grab her the gold by a full 4.5 points.
It's all the more impressive when you remember that this is Kim's first season back after taking a 22-month hiatus to focus on going to college at Princeton. "Coming back and competing after taking some time off was really nerve-racking," Kim admitted on Instagram afterward, "but I'm super happy I was able to pull through." No kidding — in addition to her Grand Prix win and the halfpipe world championships last week, Kim also won the Laax Open in January. She's back to her podium-topping self, and we're more than ready to sit back and watch her do her thing for the foreseeable future.