Chloe Kim suffered heartbreak at the Winter Olympics on Thursday after a nightmare slip cost her a historic snowboard three-peat.
While being cheered on by NFL-star boyfriend Myles Garrett, as well as A-list buddy Snoop Dogg, the Team USA great, 25, fell on the last of her three runs in the women’s halfpipe final, meaning she surrendered her Olympic title to 17-year-old South Korean sensation Gaon Choi.
Kim, who successfully defended her crown in 2022, narrowly missed the chance to become the first snowboarder in history, male or female, to win three consecutive gold medals in her respective event, with her best score of 88.00 not enough to trump Choi’s incredible 90.25 run at the Milan-Cortina Games.
She previously captured women’s halfpipe gold at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and Beijing, but entered the 2026 Games coming off a nasty injury.
In mid-January Kim announced that she had torn her left labrum, a type of shoulder joint cartilage, while training in Switzerland, meaning she was unable to practice until ‘right before the Olympics.’
Chloe Kim failed to secure a historic three-peat in the Olympic women’s halfpipe on Thursday
Garrett, the star Cleveland Browns defensive end she has dated for close to a year, made the long journey to Italy from the San Francisco Bay Area after last weekend’s Super Bowl to support his girlfriend as she bid to make history.
Yet the Browns player could only watch on as she slipped at the very final hurdle, meaning her reign as Olympic champion is now over.
Kim, who went straight over to congratulate Choi after she claimed gold, scored 88 in her opening run, with her teenage rival only earning 10 on her first attempt after a brutal fall that left her requiring medical attention.
More to follow.
