ASPEN, Colo. – With the contest already won, Chloe Kim tried to push snowboarding forward.
The 15-year-old phenom already had gold. It was her second consecutive win in women’s snowboarding superpipe, making her the first athlete under 16 to win back-to-back golds.
But as she took her victory lap, Kim tried to be the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s in her halfpipe run.
She didn’t, but that hardly seemed to matter. Few doubt that the bubbly teen with pink hair and a love of candy will help progress her sport.
So will Arielle Gold, the silver medalist whose run included a trick she learned from her brother and that is seldom used in women’s competitions.