Sure, Chloe Kim was a touch nervous. But who were we kidding?
“I might be better at snowboarding than I am at walking,” she said.
That was apparent Feb. 11 when Kim, four weeks removed from a schedule-scrambling shoulder injury, soared through a no-fuss, no-drama qualifying round, finishing first to easily earn a spot in the final where she’ll attempt to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic gold medals.
Two dozen riders got two turns down the Olympic halfpipe on a partly cloudy day in Livigno, with their best score counting and only 12 advancing to Thursday night’s final.
Kim dropped in the middle of the pack and immediately separated herself from everyone.
The run included a massive big air leap, some 13 feet over the edge of the halfpipe, punctuated with a showy grab of the board, and also a 1080-degree spin while riding backward — a trick she can make even harder by adding an extra flip.
When she was done, she smiled huge for the camera and stuck out her tongue.
“I’ve been doing this for 22 years,” said Kim, who is 25. “Muscle memory is a thing.”
Kim said she was hoping to link frontside and backside 900s on her second run, but she skidded a bit after the first one, so pulled up to save herself for the final, where she’ll go bigger. A few minutes later, she was in the crowd, sharing hugs with her boyfriend, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett.
Scotty James placed first in men’s qualifying later, joining defending champion Ayumu Hirano and his Japenese teammates Yuto Totsuka and Ruka Hirano, along with American Alessandro Barbieri, in the 12-man final.
Franjo von Allmen wins his third gold
Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland looks like a breakout star of the Milan Cortina Olympics after winning his third gold medal. Jordan Stolz has one gold and is targeting three more. And Chloe Kim and a bunch of NHL stars are just getting started.
Von Allmen won the super-G in Bormio on Wednesday to become the third man with three victories in Alpine skiing at one Winter Games. It hadn’t been done since 1968.
That’s not a priority for von Allmen, though. He said he’s just staying in the moment. As for history, “maybe in a few years it will be important for me,” he added.
Von Allmen won the downhill on Saturday and paired with Tanguy Nef to win the team combined Monday.
Skating and waiting for Stolz
Jordan Stolz won the first of what could be four gold medals at these Winter Olympics in men’s 1,000-meter speedskating.
The 21-year-old from Wisconsin set an Olympic record with his time but had to wait longer than usual for his victory to be confirmed because another skater was given a do-over after being bumped during his race.
When Joep Wennermars of the Netherlands failed to beat Stolz, it was time for the American to take a delayed victory lap.
Ice dancing favorites beaten by French duo
American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates sought gold but ended up with silver as they were upset by France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
Cizeron became the first skater to win back-to-back ice dance gold with different partners. The Canadian team of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took bronze ahead of Italian and British contenders.
NHL stars back on Olympic ice
The puck dropped on men’s hockey on Wednesday, marking the return of NHL players to the Games for the first time since 2014.
It started with the Juraj Slafkovsky show, part two.
The Slovakian forward who lit up the 2022 Olympics as a 17-year-old tournament MVP returned as an NHL star with the Montreal Canadiens and picked up where he left off.
Slafkovsky finished with two goals, including the tournament opener, and one assist as Slovakia upset 2022 gold medalist Finland 4-1 in the first game of the preliminary round.
The one team without NHL players, host nation Italy, pushed Sweden hard in a 5-2 loss. It was a one-goal game with five minutes remaining.
The NHL opted not to participate in the Pyeongchang Olympics of 2018, and pandemic-related scheduling issues prompted the league to skip the Beijing Games in 2022.
Team Canada ‘heartbroken’ after shooting
The Canadian team at the Winter Olympics issued a statement saying it is “heartbroken” after waking to the news of a deadly school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.
“Our thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones, those who are injured, and the entire Tumbler Ridge community,” the statement said.
A standoff between Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych and the International Olympic Committee rumbled on as he again trained in a helmet decorated with portraits of Ukrainians killed in Russian attacks, many of them athletes. The IOC says it won’t allow the helmet in competition.