Chloe Kim wins fifth Winter X Games title
The 18-year-old Olympic halfpipe champion now has eight X Games medals in total as Kelly Clark makes final appearance in Aspen
Snowboard
Olympic champion Chloe Kim has done it again.
The 18-year-old won her fifth Winter X Games snowboard superpipe gold in Aspen.
The PyeongChang halfpipe gold medallist did not land any new tricks in cold, icy conditions as she opted for a more cautious and solid second run after falling on her first.
Her clean second run earned her a score of 84.00, enough to defend her title on Saturday evening. Spain’s Queralt Castellet was second with an 80.00, China’s Cai Xuetong took bronze with a 69.66.
“I obviously wanted to do a completely different run. I have a lot of tricks I wanted to do out here. Unfortunately, it was just a little unsafe. My health is more important.” - Chloe Kim
Injury scare
The tough conditions were a challenge for all eight competitors. Kim appeared to have tweaked her leg during training and played it safe in the competition. She held back some of her more difficult tricks and combinations and opted for a solid run including a frontside 1080 and cab 720.
Kim had hoped to attempt a double cork 1080, a trick that she has landed before but never in a competition.
Kim now has five Winter X Games gold medals and eight total.
Kelly Clark's final run
2002 Olympic champion Kelly Clark, who announced her retirement this week, was honoured before the superpipe event as "history's most influential snowboarder of all time".
The five-time Olympian made one final superpipe run to mark the end of her remarkable 20-year-career.
Kim has called Clark her "biggest role model" in a recent interview with Cosmopolitan magazine.
"She took me under her wing when I was 8 years old and has guided me since. I always go to her for advice."
Sildaru sets new record
Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru was another crowd-puller.
She rewrote the record books with her three-medal haul.
The 16-year-old won gold in slopestyle, silver in the superpipe and rounded it off with bronze in Big Air.
All three medals came within 25 hours.