Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

Chloe Kim defends gold medal, wins halfpipe event for USA

By Jordan Wolf | Last updated Feb 9, 2022 10:57 PM ET

Chloe Kim grew fond of her gold-medal status after making history at the 2018 Winter Olympics — so much so that she decided to hang onto it for another four years.

Kim defended her gold in the snowboard halfpipe event on Thursday, bringing home another gold medal for the United States in Beijing and in the process becoming the first woman to win Olympic snowboard gold medals twice in the halfpipe.

The event is comprised of four runs, but Kim had the gold all but locked up after her first time down the hill. She busted out a 1080, switch 900, a switch backside 540 and a second 1080, falling to her knees in joy as the commentator called the run "guaranteed gold."

CHLOE KIM.

That’s it. That’s the tweet.

@NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/j5lgBHMTDO
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 10, 2022

Kim's run was scored a 94, immediately vaulting her to the top of the 12 competitors and essentially confirming the commentator's assessment. She was overcome with emotion, and even joked, “Oh my god. I had the worst practice of my life.”

That first run meant EVERYTHING to @ChloeKim.

What a moment. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/W6XWlDglc5
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 10, 2022

After Kim and the others finished their remaining runs, she was indeed awarded the gold medal. She became the youngest female gold medalist in Olympic snowboarding history in 2018 when she captured the gold in PyeongChang, and will now return to the United States with another piece of hardware to add to her trophy case.

Jordan Wolf

Jordan Wolf is a Kansas-based sports writer who is named after Michael Jordan but thinks LeBron James is the greatest of all time. He’s a proud University of Kansas alum, even during football season, and enjoys watching Patrick Mahomes do Patrick Mahomes things on Sundays. You can find him on X at @byjordanwolf.

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