Shaun White doesn’t remember the first time he met Chloe Kim, but he can’t forget the first time he heard about Kim.
At a halfpipe contest a few years ago, word spread that a 12- or 13-year-old girl posted the highest score in qualifying.
“It was this huge upset, and everyone thought she was from another country,” White, 30, said of Kim, a daughter of South Korean immigrants who is now 16. “We’re like, oh, is she like a Korean rider? They’re like, no, her name’s Chloe. Since then, obviously she’s been living up to her hype and winning events.