By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, Jan 13 (Reuters) – U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim, winner of back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the halfpipe, said on Tuesday that she would be able to compete in next month’s Milano Cortina Games despite a shoulder injury she suffered during training last week.
Kim said an MRI showed she tore her labrum, a type of cartilage found in the shoulder joint.
“There are two different ways to do it, and I guess the way I did it is less severe than the other, so I’m really happy about that,” Kim said in a video posted on her Instagram account.
“Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard. I haven’t gotten nearly the amount of reps I would’ve liked, but that’s OK.”
She added that she was “so grateful that I will be good to go for the Olympics.”
The 25-year-old disclosed last week that she had been sidelined by “the silliest fall” during a practice run in Switzerland.
Video showed Kim sliding into the halfpipe wall as she was travelling upward on her board near the beginning of a run. At that time, Kim said she was unsure of the extent of her shoulder injury.
She is aiming to become the first woman to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the halfpipe competition, which this year begins Feb. 11 in the Italian resort town of Livigno. She is considered a strong favourite if she is fit.
Kim won the halfpipe gold in Pyeongchang in 2018 and in Beijing in 2022. She earned a spot on the U.S. snowboarding team for the Milano Cortina Games last spring after she won the 2025 World Championships and was ranked the number one female snowboarder in the world.
She said on Tuesday that she would have to sit out this week’s World Cup event in Laax, Switzerland.
(Reporting by Lisa RichwineEditing by Toby Davis)
