By Samantha Brant ’19, Contributor

Chloe Kim is 17-years-old. I am 17-years-old. She just became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding medal. I am barely surviving high school.

Chloe Kim was born and raised in southern California and began snowboarding at the age of four. Her mother and father spent countless hours driving to and from the mountain to practice, and her father eventually gave up his job as an engineer to dedicate his time to helping her improve. She joined a competition team when she was six years old and from ages eight to ten, Kim lived and trained in Switzerland.  She eventually moved back to California, where she trained at Mammoth Mountain and joined U.S. Snowboarding in 2013.

Kim began her incredibly successful competitive career in 2014 at the Winter X Games where she won silver in the Super Pipe event. In 2015 she won gold, also breaking the record for youngest gold medalist at the Winter X Games at fifteen years old. She competed at the X Games for the next three years, earning four gold, one silver, and one bronze medal before finally getting her chance to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Chloe Kim had an incredible run in the women’s Halfpipe event, scoring a 93.75 in her first run. The snowboarder who won the silver medal only scored an 89.75 in her final run, making Kim’s victory official even though she had slipped. But Chloe Kim still had one last run. Even though she knew she had already won gold, she went hard on her last chance to see how far she could go. She completed back to back 1080s, becoming the first female athlete to land this trick in the Olympics. In her final run she scored a 98.25. Kim’s family rushed to celebrate with her after her victory, incredibly proud of their daughter’s success. Chloe Kim not only won gold, but broke several records, all while being only 17-years-old.