Chloe Kim became the youngest Winter X Games gold medalist ever, overtaking the greatest women’s snowboarder of all time on her final run in the halfpipe final Saturday night.
Kim, who was born in 2000 and too young for the Sochi Olympics, scored 92 points in her third and final run (video here) in Aspen, Colo. She pushed four-time reigning X Games champion Kelly Clark to silver after Clark scored 90 in her first run. Two-time Olympic medalist Torah Bright was third.
So, Chloe Kim, how does it feel?
“My face kind of hurts right now,” Kim said on ESPN.
Kim, who won silver behind Clark last year, chipped a tooth in an earlier practice fall, according to ESPN, and wore a Nelly-like bandage on her left cheek.
Clark, 31 and a three-time Olympic medalist, soared more than 16 feet above the halfpipe, reportedly a new women’s X Games record. She won her 12th X Games halfpipe medal, a record for a man or woman.
Kim was not alive when Clark and White made their Winter X Games debuts 15 years ago.
“In years to come, I’ll be able to look at women’s snowboarding and know that not only is it in good hands, but it’s in the hands of someone I’m proud of,” Clark said of Kim and others before the competition, according to The Associated Press and USA Today.
Kim has said she considers Clark an idol, standing in long lines to get Clark’s autograph and being mesmerized and speechless to ride a chairlift with Clark, according to the AP.
“All I could think was, ‘I’m going to get Kelly Clark powers now,’” Kim joked to the AP when retelling the chairlift story.
Earlier, Olympic bronze medalist Nick Goepper won a third straight ski slopestyle title, edging Olympic champion Joss Christensen 93.66 to 90.66. Olympic silver medalist Gus Kenworthy was seventh. Christensen won his first career X Games medal.
Goepper failed to qualify outright and only made the eight-man field for the final after another skier dropped out.
Sweden’s Emma Dahlstrom won the women’s ski slopestyle. Dahlstrom, who was fifth in Sochi, scored 90.33 in the best of her three runs. U.S. Olympian Keri Herman was second at 86.66, followed by Canadian Olympic champion Dara Howell and U.S. Olympic silver medalist Devin Logan.
Lindsey Jacobellis wins ninth Winter X Games title
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported Kelly Clark won her 10th X Games halfpipe medal.
