Chloe Kim wasted no time in kicking off her gold-medal defense at the Beijng Olympics — and she made it look easy while she was at it.
The American snowboarder, who became an instant sensation on the way to halfpipe gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, got her Beijing Games started Wednesday in Zhangjiakou, China, by qualifying in the top spot for the final on Thursday (9:25 p.m. ET on Wednesday).
Kim was the second rider down in the first qualifying run and quickly eliminated much of the suspense. The 21-year-old delivered a clean ride, landing all five tricks she pulled off and securing a score of 87.75.
The California native fell on her second run, but her strong first ride was still enough to secure the best score among the 22 snowboarders. The top 12 advanced to the final.
“I was really nervous my first run because we’re at the Olympics, so I was so happy I put one down,” Kim said on the NBC broadcast. “I just wanted to mess around on my second run, trying something I’ve never really done before, so I’m surprised I made it that far. But yeah, I’m stoked.”
Kim will be the only American in the final, though, after Maddie Mastro surprisingly missed out on the final spot by a half point to China’s Qiu Leng.
“I was not really stoked on that [second run],” Mastro said. “I did my first three hits and they went well and the rest of the run, I don’t know what happened. It just didn’t happen but that’s OK — on to the next.”
Fellow Americans Tessa Maud (16th) and Zoe Kalapos (17th) also came up short.
After winning gold in Pyeongchang, Kim took almost two years off from competitive snowboarding to heal a broken ankle (suffered in early 2019) and enroll at Princeton. But she hardly skipped a beat Wednesday, giving herself a strong chance to defend her gold medal.
Just don’t mention the idea of “defending” her title. She doesn’t view it that way. This is just another contest, Kim maintained, that she wants to land all the tricks she has in mind.
“I feel like I’m in such a better place now mentally and physically as well [compared to 2018],” Kim said. “So just grateful to be able to be out here and represent the U.S. I’m so honored to be here and just enjoying the moment. I don’t know how many more Games I’m going to do so I’m definitely just embracing the experience as much as possible.”
— With AP