Shaun White: How Chloe Kim emulated snowboard legend to make Winter Olympic history

The USA’s Chloe Kim set Beijing alight as she defended her Winter Olympic title in the snowboarding halfpipe final.

The 21-year-old blew her competition away by scoring a mammoth 94.00 in her first run in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Her high-scoring opener allowed her room to experiment in the following two runs, where she attempted to land the fabled 1260.

Extending her unbeaten run which started in 2019, Kim had the breathing space and the confidence to attempt history in Beijing.

The 1260 is an incredibly difficult trick which requires the rider to complete three-and-a-half turns in the air. It’s a move that has never been landed by a woman in the history of the halfpipe competition.

Kim attempted the move in her second and third runs but she wasn’t able to stick the landing.

This didn’t affect her dominant opening run from taking her to the top of the podium, where she retained her Olympic title.

Kim is now just the second snowboarder in history to win back-to-back gold medals in the halfpipe event, following in the footsteps of legendary rider and compatriot Shaun White.

The USA now boasts two history-making Olympic snowboarders in White and Kim.

White is a hugely celebrated rider and his career is one to marvel at. The 35-year-old holds the record for the most X Games titles won as well as Olympic gold medals in snowboarding. He has also won ten ESPY Awards throughout his career.

White won his first Olympic gold at the 2006 Games in Turin and made history as the first ever rider to retain his title when he won once again at Vancouver 2010.

Like Kim, White demolished the competition in his opening run, and used his second as a victory lap, where he performed his trademark Double McTwist 1260.

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