American snowboarder Chloe Kim said Thursday she took “the stupidest fall” during training and dislocated her shoulder, jeopardizing her chance for a third straight gold medal next month. Winter Olympics in Italy.
Kim posted video of the accident in Laax, Switzerland, earlier this week, while she was practicing there for a major Olympic tune-up next weekend. She tumbled into the snow and skated on the halfpipe.
She did not say which shoulder she hurt and that she was “trying to stay optimistic” about the competition at the Olympic Games but “I don’t have much clarity right now.” The 25-year-old said an MRI is scheduled for Friday that will reveal the extent of the damage.
“The positive thing is I have range, I’m not in that much pain, I just don’t want it to keep popping up, which is what happened,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay really optimistic. I feel really good about where I am right now with snowboarding, so I know that once I get out and I’m ready to go, I should be fine.”
Kim’s absence would deprive the Winter Games of one of its biggest names and one of its best storylines. She is trying to become the first action sports athlete to win three consecutive gold medals. Shaun White took three gold medals in the halfpipe, but they were spread over five competitions.
Kim was the breakout star of the 2018 Olympicsa vibrant teenager who struck gold in her parents’ home country, South Korea. Four years ago, in China, she won againwith that victory punctuated by her posts about the ups and downs of success and fame.
Through it all, no one has come close to beating her.
Two years ago, Kim became the first woman to perform a 1260-degree turn during the Winter X Games. Before that, she was the first woman to land a double-cork 1080 – two somersaults and one spin – and the first to land back-to-back 1080s.
She worked to expand that repertoire for the Milan Cortina Games and, if healthy, would be the heavy favorite to win again. This injury calls all that into question. The Olympic qualifying round in the women’s halfpipe is on February 11.
The Laax Open is scheduled for next weekend, and even if Kim were healthy, there is a chance she could go to the Olympics without having competed in the finals of any competition this season.
Kim qualified for the U.S. team by winning a match last year and has maintained a light schedule in ’25-26. She fell during warm-up for the finals in Copper Mountain, Colorado, last month and withdrew after also hurting her shoulder. The injury was not believed to be serious.
Speaking about her latest shoulder injury, she said: “It’ll be fine. I just hope it doesn’t last too long, but I’m going to chill for the foreseeable future.”
