Choi Gaon celebrates on the podium after winning the gold medal in the women’s snowboard halfpipe final at the Livigno Snow Park in Italy during the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Thursday (local time). On the left is U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim, who took the silver medal. Yonhap

Korean snowboarder Choi Gaon clinched the gold medal in the women’s halfpipe event at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday (local time), becoming the first South Korean Olympic gold medalist in a snow event and the youngest women’s halfpipe gold medalist at 17 years and three months old.

For a sport that has long felt like a cultural wasteland in Korea, with limited infrastructure and few visible role models, a decade-long mentorship by Korean American champion Chloe Kim not only helped Choi master tricks but also turned what could have been a simple generational shift into a shared, cross-border victory.

Long before they became Olympic rivals, the two had built a quiet bond of mentorship and trust both on and off the snow.

Born in the United States to Korean immigrant parents, Kim is regarded as one of the greatest female snowboarders in history. She won gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics at 17 years and 10 months old, becoming the youngest woman ever to claim an Olympic snowboarding title. Kim defended her crown at the 2022 Beijing Games and has also captured three world championship titles and eight X Games gold medals.

Then-women's halfpipe gold medalist Chloe Kim of the United States poses during the medals ceremony at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, in this Feb. 13, 2018, file photo. AP-Yonhap

Choi, eight years younger than Kim, grew up watching the Korean American superstar dominate global competitions.

Kim spoke openly before the Games about how deeply she cared for the Korean rider and embraced Choi as a little sister.

“I love Gaon so much, I have so much respect for her. I’ve known her since she was a very small child,” she said in an interview with media before the final. She added that watching Choi progress felt like “seeing kind of a mirror reflection of myself and my family” and like being part of “a big shift to Asians being dominant in snow sports.”

Choi, for her part, called competing alongside Kim “a great honor."

Source: Korea Times News