South Korea's Choi Ga-on defeats Team USA's Chloe Kim in shock Olympic halfpipe upset

"Honestly, I'm just happy to be here because for a little bit a couple months ago it wasn't looking too certain," Kim said, via NPR. "So I'm just really stoked that I was able to make it out and make it through qualifiers."

Kim didn't just make it through qualifiers; she flew through in first place to earn herself the best starting slot in the finals.

Snow and stress

The women's halfpipe qualifiers happened during the day, when the pipe was sunny and warm, but the finals happened at night in the midst of a cold, windy, visibility-reducing snowstorm.

The conditions were rough for all competitors. Several crashed in their opening runs, including Choi, who needed medical assistance to leave the pipe. She made the difficult decision to forfeit her second of three runs to recover, and many expected her to drop out of the competition altogether.

Kim, meanwhile, held firm. She delivered a clean, high-amplitude opening run in her opening pass that scored a table-topping 88.00. Her score held throughout the second round of runs, and she entered the final pass in first place.

But Choi, still in visible pain from her Round 1 crash, wasn't done. She made the surprising decision to return to the pipe for Round 3 and delivered a near-perfect run against the odds to steal first place from Kim with an eye-popping score of 90.25. Choi's reaction said it all; she nearly fell over from pure shock.

Choi's score held throughout much of Round 3, leaving Kim, as the final rider of the evening, as the only rider capable of breaking it. With the snow pounding down, Kim botched the landing on her double cork 1080 to seal the event in Choi's favor.

A familiar story

If Kim was disappointed to miss out on her third gold medal, she didn't show it. She ran straight to Choi's side and embraced her in a bear hug, congratulating her for her skill and her grit. Kim's friends and family, including her NFL boyfriend Myles Garrett, were right there with her to celebrate Choi's achievement.

At 17, Choi is the same age as Kim was when she took home her first gold medal in the 2018 PyeongChang Games. Her rapid rise in the sport has mimicked Kim's from the start; it was fitting to see the two together on the podium, and downright heartwarming to see them so enamored by the other's talent.

Olympic snowboarding will continue on Friday, Feb. 13, with the men's halfpipe competition.