Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim didn't have the shake off any rust. After not having competed in 22 months, Kim won the Laax Open in Switzerland on Saturday after scoring an 89.75 on the second of her two runs. She made it interesting, too. Kim actually fell on her first trick attempt in the event, but landed a frontside 1080 in her second run to help propel her to the victory.
To put her place in the event into perspective, Kim found herself in fifth place out of six riders when she fell during her first run. The Laax Open also featured Spanish snowboarder Queralt Castellet, who earned a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships.
"Tonight I wanted to try a new trick on my second run, but at the end of the day, winning is more important," Kim said, NBC Sports reported. "I wanted to put something down and told myself I didn't need to go as big as I did on my first run. I just wanted to slow things down a bit."
Kim may only be 20, but she's no stranger to success at the highest levels of the sport. The California native became the youngest Olympic halfpipe gold medalist ever when she achieved the feat in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Kim won gold at the event with a score of 98.25 points -- almost 10 points ahead of silver medalist Liu Jiayu. She's also the only woman in the sport's history that has landed back-to-back 1080s in an event. She last achieved the feat in the Burton U.S. Open in March 2019.
Following Laax Open, the American snowboarder will continue preparing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which are set to take place in Beijing. That includes competing in the Winter X Games in February.
