Already a halfpipe prodigy, Chloe Kim entered greatest-of-all-time territory at the 2016 U.S. Grand Prix at Park City.
Kim, then 15, became the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s in a contest and scored a perfect 100 points, believed to be the second rider ever to do so, last Feb. 6. The first was Shaun White at the 2012 Winter X Games.
Not bad company.
Kim, a full-fledged Olympic gold-medal favorite, co-headlines with White the U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., this week, airing on NBC, NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app.
In Park City last year, Kim said she couldn’t put into words the accomplishment of landing back-to-back 1080s.
“For a while now [I’ve been wanting to land them],” she said, “but I didn’t think I’d be doing it here.”
Kim, the daughter of South Korean immigrants, would have competed in the Sochi Olympics, but she was too young by 16 months.
So Kim continued racking up domestic and international titles, including at the 2015 and 2016 X Games and the 2016 Youth Olympics.
Now she’s in line to be among the first Americans born in the 2000s to compete in the Winter Olympics next year, with a snowfall of sponsors including Target, Toyota and the South Korean cosmetics brand Laneige.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Kim said recently. “I’m really happy with everything, still having a good time, which is really important. I just try to see it in a positive way, that definitely keeps me away from the pressure.”
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