‘The Masked Singer’s Chloe Kim Heads to 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
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Chloe Kim is a snowboarder who broke barriers at the Winter Olympics at only 17 years old she took home a gold medal. She’s now 21 years old and preparing to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China for team USA. This former The Masked Singer contestant is ready to bring home gold once again.
Since the last winter olympics hosted in Pyeongchang, Gangwon, South Korea, Kim has gone on to attend Princeton University. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Princeton’s campus was closed in March 2020. During the time that Kim was home from college, she decided to return to competitive snowboarding. In July 2020, Kim announced that she was taking a leave of absence from Princeton to get into shape to compete.
On January 10, the olympian announced that she secured her spot on team USA for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. She will most likely be competing in the Women’s Halfpipe category once again. The olympian has shared that she plans to show off three new tricks in the upcoming competition.
Chloe Kim Goes From Snowboarding with Her Dad to the Olympics
Kim began snowboarding at only four years old with her father. Although they were both new to the sport, her dad quickly saw her potential. Her dad quit his job as an engineer to devote his time to become her full-time coach. By the age of 13, she was entering professional competitions with the U.S. national team.
Although Kim was too young to compete in the Sochi Winter Olympics, many people believe she was ready. In 2015, Kim earned her first gold medal at the X Games in the category of superpipe. She was 14 years old and at the time in turn became the youngest gold medalist. Kim lost this title in 2016. In the 2016 X Games she became the first person under the age of 16 to win two gold medals as well as the first to win back-to-back gold medals.
At this year’s U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, she became the first woman to land back-to-back 1080 spins (three full rotations in the air) in a snowboarding competition. In total, she has six X Games medals at only 21 years old.
In 2018, she competed in her first winter olympics in Pyeongchang, Gangwon, South Korea. During this competition, the snowboarder became the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s at an Olympics. On top of that, she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal.
Kim also recently took home first place in the LAAX Open in Switzerland. Even with some time off, Kim has proven that she’s ready for another olympic medal, and she’ll get the chance later this year.