Chloe Kim throws down the hammer, wins gold in Women’s Snowboarding Halfpipe Final

American snowboarder Chloe Kim amazed the world in primetime as she easily claimed the gold medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics women’s halfpipe final.

Could it really have ended any other way?

On a picture-perfect, sunny winter day with hardly any wind to speak of, a group of 12 women showed the world what they could do in a halfpipe with a board strapped to their feet.

American snowboarder Chloe Kim just showed she can do it a little bit better.

Dropping into the pipe, 600 feet in length with 22-foot walls, we saw multiple women throw down 1080s, the money trick in the halfpipe discipline. But only Kim, the first to ever do it, was able to nail back-to-back 1080s, which she did on her third and final victory run after securing gold.

The full podium results for the women’s halfpipe event are below, as well as the biggest highlights from the thrilling competition.

Women’s Snowboarding Halfpipe Medal Results

MEDAL RESULT | Women's Snowboarding Halfpipe Final

Chloe Kim

Jiayu Liu

Arielle Gold

Women’s Halfpipe Highlights

American Maddie Mastro threw down a huge frontside 1080 on her very first trick after dropping into the pipe, but failed to land it cleanly. Still, the judges love it when riders go big right off the bat. As the commenters love to say, “You gotta risk it for the biscuit.”

Chloe Kim threw down the hammer on her first run, earning an eye-popping 93.75 from the judges and vaulting into first place. Kim pulled off a huge 1080, but her best run includes two.

Supporting his daughter, Kim’s father, Jong Jin Kim, went Peak Proud Dad, handmade laminated sign included:

Kim’s parents emigrated from South Korea to the United States in 1982, and Kim’s father calls her his “American Dream.”

I’m not crying; you’re crying.

Kim was ready to pull out her back-to-back 1080 to solidify her position atop the podium in her second run, but stumbled trying to land the second one.

American snowboarding legend Kely Clark knows a thing or two about 1080s; she was the first woman to ever land one successfully.

Thanks to a score of 81.75 on her second run, Clark was in third place heading into the third and final run. Clark had a highly technical third run, but once again, the judging raised eyebrows. Earning a 83.50, Clark was actually bumped to fourth by her own teammate, Arielle Gold.

After wiping out on her first run, Gold also threw down a frontside 1080 right off the bat on her second run, but surprisingly, the judges only gave her a 74.75 for her efforts. She finally nailed it on her third run, starting off with a 1080 combo at the top of the pipe and finishing her run clean with a 85.75 to move into the bronze medal spot.

Jiayu Liu’s silver medal is a huge accomplishment for China. Women’s snowboarding is on the rise in China, but it’s taken awhile for the country to become competitive in the sport. She earned an 89.75 on her second run to cement her place on the podium, though the high score was somewhat surprising considering she missed the grab on her 900.

Kim gave the rest of the world’s women something to work on as the young up-and-comers prepare for the 2022 Winter Games.

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