bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Mike Chan

South Korean teen Gaon Choi bagged her country’s first ever gold at the Winter X Games in the US, becoming the youngest winner of the snowboard halfpipe event and breaking Chloe Kim’s record in the process
At 14 years and two months old, Choi was six months younger than the American when she set the previous record for being the youngest to be crowned halfpipe champion.
Choi, the world junior champion, landed three different 900s – switch backside 900 Weddle, frontside 900 and also a backside 900 (with a missed grab) – in her third of four runs in Aspen to overtake two-time US Olympian Maddie Mastro.
Making her X Games debut this year, Choi secured the gold medal with her fourth and final run.
She went switch backside 720 melon, backside 540 Weddle, frontside 1080 melon and Cab 720 truck driver.












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by 최가온 (@gaon.sb)



“I am so happy, I am so glad my efforts [paid off] with a big win like this.” Choi said. “I expected that I could successfully manage a 1080, and I am happy I succeeded.”
Choi, who was undefeated in the halfpipe in her first year of junior-level FIS competition in 2022, surpassed the mark set down by Kim, who won the first of her five X Games Aspen halfpipe titles in 2015.
The pair have a connection that goes beyond Saturday’s achievement. Choi met Kim for the first time in Pyeongchang in 2017, when her peer competed at the Olympic test event.
From then on, Kim and her father would help Choi go to the United States to continue her training.
“I began snowboarding because of Chloe and now almost being near her level when she was 14, it feels weird that I can see a possibility that I would go beyond her someday,” Choi said. “I am already starting to look forward to the next Olympics.”
Two-time Winter Olympics gold medallist Kim also posted on social media.
“I feel like a proud Mom,” she said. “The future of snowboarding is in good hands.”
Kim, the only woman to land back-to-back 1080s in a contest, is taking this season off after defending her Olympic title in February last year, but the 22-year-old plans to return ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
Mastro, who finished 12th and 13th at the last two Olympics, landed her patented double crippler, two back flips, on two of her runs to take silver and China’s Cai Xuetong took bronze.
It was Cai’s eighth appearance at the X Games, and the two-time world champion edged Ruki Tomita of Japan for her fourth X Games medal.
The 29-year-old won the SuperPipe silver in 2017, between two SuperPipe bronzes in 2016 and 2019.
In men’s Snowboard Big Air, China’s Su Yiming threw down a 1980 in his fifth and final run to snatch bronze.
Su, who became the first Chinese athlete to win a Big Air gold medal in last year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, only had one successful run in his first four attempts.
His 39-point second run put the 18-year-old in fourth place with less than two minutes to go.
Su then performed and completed a 1980 in his final run to score 48 points, sending the teenager from Jilin to a podium finish with 87 points, 22 ahead of Mark McMorris from Canada.
Norwegian Marcus Kleveland won gold with 96 points while Japanese Takeru Otsuka took silver with 90 points.
Su will take part in his second event, men’s Snowboard Slopestyle, on the final day of the event on Sunday evening, US time.


China netizens accuse ‘two-faced’ skier Eileen Gu over links to ‘arrogant’ French swimmer

Lin Xiaojun, speed skater who switched from South Korea to China, vows to win over public

7 of the richest skiers and snowboarders in the world – net worths, ranked: Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White make the list, but who’s dated Tiger Woods, and who has a not-so-secret musical talent?

Who gets Olympic gold, silver and bronze now that Russian skater Valieva has been banned for doping?

Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

Winter X Games: Gaon Choi, 14, breaks Chloe Kim record to become youngest snowboard halfpipe champion

Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi on her way to winning the women’s snowboard Big Air event at the Winter X Games. Photo: Kyodo

Winter Olympics: Chloe Kim says half-pipe gold ‘still hasn’t hit me’ as China’s Eileen Gu lauds ‘my friend, inspiration and big sister’

United States’ Chloe Kim reacts during the women’s halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo: AP

China’s Cai Xuetong ‘stomps her authority’ over Winter Olympics warm-up, while Japan’s Ruka Hirano takes top spot in men’s event

Cai Xuetong reacts after her final run. Photo: AP

Cai Xuetong soars over the half-pipe during the US Grand Prix snowboarding event at Copper Mountain. Photo: AP

Ruka Hirano in action the US Grand Prix snowboarding event at Copper Mountain. Photo: AP

Beijing 2022: Cai Xuetong believes snowboarding will once again capture the imagination of the world

China’s Cai Xuetong has been preparing for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics by undergoing training at the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai, China. Photos: UFC Performance Institute Shanghai

Photo:

Winter Olympics: Su Yiming thanks parents, ‘my motherland’ after big air gold, and no judging error to deny him

China’s Su Yiming is congratulated by fellow snowboarders after winning gold in the men’s big air event at the Winter Olympics. Photo: Xinhua

China’s Su Yiming soars through the air in the men’s snowboard big air event on his way to gold. Photo: Xinhua

Winter Olympics: China’s Su Yiming denied snowboard slopestyle gold by ‘glaring judging error’, BBC commentator says

Su Yiming (left) of China and Max Parrot of Canada celebrate after the men’s snowboard slopestyle final at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, north China’s Hebei Province. Photo: Xinhua/Xu Chang

Max Parrot celebrates with his gold medal after the men’s snowboard slopestyle final at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Hongxiang

Su Yiming of China celebrates with his silver medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Hongxiang

Silver medallist Su Yiming celebrates on the podium after the men’s snowboard slopestyle final at the Genting Snow Park H & S Stadium at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo: Osports via ZUMA Press/dpa

Max Parrot celebrates on the podium after winning the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics men’s snowboard slopestyle final. Photo: -/Osports via ZUMA Press/dpa

Sport

China

Other Sport

X Games debutant Choi completes 1080 to seal first ever X Games gold for South Korea
China’s Cai Xuetong and Su Yiming take bronze in respective events


South Korean teenager Gaon Choi completes 1080 to seal first ever X Games gold for South Korea.


Winter X Games: Gaon Choi, 14, breaks Chloe Kim record to become youngest snowboard halfpipe champion

X Games debutant Choi completes 1080 to seal first ever X Games gold for South Korea China’s Cai Xuetong and Su Yiming take bronze in respective events

X Games debutant Choi completes 1080 to seal first ever X Games gold for South Korea

China’s Cai Xuetong and Su Yiming take bronze in respective events