Feature: U.S. snowboard talent Kim continues brilliancy at Beijing 2022

CHONGLI, Zhangjiakou, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Landing the double cork 1080 twice combined with a 900 and a 540 in the first run of the Beijing 2022 women's snowboard halfpipe final here on Thursday, American talent Chloe Kim punched the air and then knelt down in the snow with hands covering her mouth.

The score of 94 points for this world's top-level routine de facto ensured Kim, 21, her second consecutive Olympic gold medal although there were still two runs to go.

After failing in her second run in which she tried to challenge the women's limit for a cab 1260, the defending champion saw China's freestyle skier Gu Ailing in the cheering crowd. She rushed to Gu and the two made a big hug, like old friends who appreciate each other.

Gu, who has become an icon in China as she rallied to clinch the women's freestyle ski big air gold two days ago in Beijing, will also compete in the halfpipe here on Feb. 18.

Nobody heard what they said but the beaming Kim tried the 1260 again in her third run in spite of another failure.

"I did it once in practice. It was worth it for sure, 1000%. That's what keeps me going. I wish I'd land it, but next time," said Kim after the final.

Answering a question about what she and Gu were talking, Kim said,"That was mostly a lot of screaming and a lot of excitement. Eileen is such a sweetheart, and I've had the pleasure of getting to know her and becoming her friend over the last couple of years. I'm so proud to know her and so excited to support her in her next two events."

On the distance between her and the rest of the field, Kim said, "I find it inspirational that everyone's out progressing the sport. At the last Olympics, you didn't see that many 1080s, and now everyone is doing a 1080. That's quite the improvement, and it's such an honor to be part of this sport and help progress women's halfpipe snowboarding."

Kim's stunning performance in the first run pushed all other riders to try their masterpiece in the last two runs.

The host's No. 1 Cai Xuetong also made two 1080s but one for each run and finished fourth with 81.25 points.

Commenting on Kim, the 28-year-old Cai, who have attended four Winter Olympics, said after the qualification: "Kim is truly a talented athlete and I have been challenging her all the time. I have always appreciated her competitiveness and her promotion of snowboarding. She has been leveling up the difficulty of tricks, which encourages us to make breakthroughs."

Kim was the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal at age 17 at PyeongChang 2018. Furthermore, she is the current world, Olympic, Youth Olympic, and X Games champion in the halfpipe and the first Grand Slam snowboarder to win the title at all four major events.

As a talent, Kim was the first female rider to land a double cork 1080 in a halfpipe, and the first female rider to land a back-to-back 1080 at the 2016 US Open for which she received a perfect score of 100 points.

Kim, whose father emigrated from South Korea to the United States in 1982 to pursue an engineering degree, began snowboarding at age four and started competing at age six as a member of Team Mountain High. Her father gave up his job to help her chase her snowboarding dreams.

A university student, Kim came back to competitions during the 2020/21 season after taking a year off for her first year at Princeton.

"There is a lot of emotion here. I am sad that my family isn't here due to Covid, however, I'm so grateful that we even were able to do this and come here. That's the most important part," Kim said after successfully defending her title.