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U.S. Winter Olympics star snowboarder Chloe Kim’s hopes for a gold medal three-peat are in serious doubt after she suffered a surprising shoulder injury.
Kim said Thursday that she took “the silliest fall” in training, which caused her to dislocate her shoulder, threatening her chance to win a third straight gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
Kim posted video of the accident in Laax, Switzerland, earlier this week as she practiced for a key Olympic tune-up there next weekend. The footage shows Kim tumbling hard onto the snow and sliding across the halfpipe.
Kim did not specify which shoulder she hurt but said she was “trying to stay optimistic” despite having little clarity about her recovery timeline. The 25-year-old said she has an MRI scheduled for Friday that will reveal the extent of the damage.
“The positive thing is, I have range, I’m not in that much pain, I just don’t want it to keep popping out, which has happened,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay really optimistic. I feel really good about where my snowboarding is at right now, so I know the minute I get cleared and I’m good to go, I should be fine.”
Kim’s absence would deprive the Winter Games of one of its biggest names and one of its best storylines.
She is trying to become the first action-sports athlete to win three straight gold medals. Shaun White took three halfpipe golds, but they were spread out over five games.
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Kim was the breakout star of the 2018 Olympics, a bubbly teenager taking gold in her parents’ home country of South Korea. Four years ago in China, she won again, with that victory punctuated by her messages about the ups and downs of success and fame.
Through it all, nobody has come close to beating her.
Two years ago at the Winter X Games, Kim became the first woman to pull off a 1260-degree spin in competition. Before that, she was the first woman to land a double-cork 1080 — two flips and one spin — and the first to land back-to-back 1080s.
She was working on adding to that repertoire for the Milan Cortina Games and, if healthy, would be the heavy favorite to win again. This injury throws all that into question. The Olympic qualifying round in women’s halfpipe is Feb. 11.
The Laax Open is scheduled for next weekend, and even if Kim were to get a clean bill of health, there is a chance she would head into the Olympics without having competed in the final of a contest this season.
Kim qualified for the U.S. team by winning a contest last year and has kept a light schedule in ’25-26. She fell during warmups for the final in Copper Mountain, Colorado, last month and pulled out after hurting her shoulder then, as well. That injury was not believed serious.
Regarding her latest shoulder injury, she said: “It should be fine. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t take too long, but I’m going to be chilling for the next little while.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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