Chloe Kim, 17-year-old American snowboarding phenom, wins gold at women's halfpipe finals in Olympic debut

The American phenom has done it.

Chloe Kim, 17, won gold at the women's halfpipe finals Monday with a final score of 98.25. It was the U.S.' third gold medal of the Winter Olympics so far.

The event was over before it even began after Kim started things off with an impressive first-run score of 93.75 to put the rest of the competition on their heels. The run featured a flawless backside 1080. Kim, got off to another superb start on her second run before failing to land the second of a back-to-back 1080 combo. Kim had the opportunity to take a victory lap on her third run, having already wrapped up the gold medal by that point, but instead opted to improve on her final score, posting a near-perfect 98.25.

China's Jiayu Liu took silver with a best score of 89.75, while fellow American Arielle Gold earned bronze with a best score of 85.75. Thirty-four-year old Kelly Clark, one of the most decorated American snowboarders, fell just shy of earning a medal, finishing with a best score of 83.50.

Despite making her Olympic debut and being one of the youngest Olympians at Pyeongchang, Kim, who is the first woman to successfully land back-to-back 1080s, was a heavy favorite to take gold in the women's halfpipe.

The 17-year-old Long Beach native dominated the qualifying round Sunday, posting the two highest-scoring runs in the event - a 91.50 on her first run and a 95.50 on her second.

Prior to the Winter Games, Kim won gold in both women's halfpipe and women's slopestyle at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics. Kim is also a four-time X Games gold medalist, becoming the first person under the age of 16 to win three gold medals in 2016.

While winning your first Olympic gold medal is a special feeling in of itself, the achievement is most likely even more memorable for Kim since she's the daughter of South Korean immigrants and she still has family living there.

Kim became even more of a fan-favorite after the teenager tweeted about eating churros and craving ice cream during her qualifying round Sunday.

She continued her food-loving tweets Monday, posting about her love of breakfast sandwiches before her third run of the event.


“Wish I finished my breakfast sandwich but my stubborn self decided not to and now I'm getting hungry,” Kim wrote.