Halfpipe: 17-year-old wins gold despite horrific fall

First a horrific crash, then Olympic gold: That sums up the performance of 17-year-old South Korean Choi Gaon in the women's snowboard halfpipe. Superstar Chloe Kim, on the other hand, missed out on the hoped-for historic gold hat trick.

February 12, 2026

From: mv

Although Choi Gaon did not finish her second attempt due to a horrific fall, she showed a tremendous performance in her third run and ultimately prevailed with 90,25 points, narrowly beating Chloe Kim (88 points) and Japan's Mitsuki Ono (85 points).

American Kim could have become the first snowboarder to win three Olympic gold medals at three consecutive Games. She already won gold in the halfpipe in Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022.

Missed out on a historic record: Chloe Kim. © APA/afp / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV

Kim took the lead with 88 points in the first run, despite the snowfall, and maintained it until the third run. There, she was overtaken by Gaon, who won her first medal at her first Winter Olympics.

Keywords Winter sports Olympics 2026 snowboard half pipe