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US Winter Olympic star snowboarder Chloe Kim’s hopes of a gold medal three-peat are in serious doubt after she suffered a surprise shoulder injury.
Kim said Thursday that she took “the stupidest fall” in training, causing her to dislocate her shoulder, threatening her chance to win a third consecutive gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
Kim posted video of the accident in Laax, Switzerland, earlier this week as she practiced for an important Olympic tune-up there next weekend. The footage shows Kim falling hard in the snow and sliding over the half pipe.
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Kim took home the gold medal in the women’s halfpipe event at the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea. (Reuters)
Kim didn’t specify which shoulder she hurt, but said she was “trying to stay optimistic” despite not having much clarity on her recovery timeline. The 25-year-old said she has an MRI scheduled for Friday that will reveal the extent of the damage.
“The positive is that I have range, I’m not in as much pain, I just don’t want it to keep popping up, which it has,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay really optimistic. I feel really good about where my snowboarding is right now, so I know the minute I get cleared and I’m ready to go, I should be good.”
Kim’s absence would deprive the Winter Games of one of its biggest names and one of its best stories.
She is trying to become the first action athlete to win three straight gold medals. Shaun White took three halfpipe golds, but they were spread over five games.
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Chloe Kim of the United States celebrates after becoming the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal. (Reuters/Jorge Silva)
Kim was the breakout star of the 2018 Olympics, a bubbly teenager who took gold in her parents’ native South Korea. Four years ago in China, she won again, with that victory punctuated by her messages about the ups and downs of success and fame.
Through it all, no one has come close to beating her.
Two years ago at the Winter X Games, Kim became the first woman to do a 1260-degree spin in competition. Before that, she was the first woman to land a double cork 1080 — two flips and a spin — and the first to land 1080s.
She was working to add to the repertoire for the Milan Cortina Games and, if healthy, would be the heavy favorite to win again. This injury calls it all into question. The Olympic qualifying round in the women’s halfpipe is on February 11.
The Laax Open is scheduled for next weekend, and even if Kim were to get a clean bill of health, there is a chance she would go to the Olympics without having competed in the finals of an event this season.
Chloe Kim of the United States reacts to an injury sustained during training prior to competing in the Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe Finals during the 2025 Toyota US Grand Prix at Copper Mountain on December 19, 2025 in Copper Mountain, Colorado. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Kim qualified for the U.S. team by winning a competition last year and has kept a light schedule in ’25-26. She fell during warm-ups for the final in Copper Mountain, Colorado, last month and pulled out after injuring her shoulder then. That injury was not considered serious.
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Regarding her latest shoulder injury, she said: “It should be fine. I just hope it doesn’t take too long, but I’m going to take it easy for the next little while.”
