14-Year-Old Gaon Choi Carves Snowboarding History, Becomes Youngest X Games Champion

Gaon Choi becomes the youngest snowboarding champion at the X Games.

In Aspen, Colorado, history was made as 14-year-old South Korean snowboarder Gaon Choi became the youngest champion in the X Games halfpipe competition, surpassing Chloe Kim's previous record.

Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim, who has been mentoring Choi, saw her protege beat her own record by a matter of months at the tender age of 14 years and two months.

Choi beamed excitedly as she thanked her parents and trainers and revealed that she is now looking forward to the next competition.

Gaon Choi's performance on X Games

NBC Sports, Gaon Choi used three different 900s during her third run, surpassing two-time U.S. Olympian Maddie Mastro.

On her fourth and final run, she executed a frontside 1080, solidifying her victory.

This marks the first Winter X Games medal for South Korea, a country with a previous best Olympic halfpipe finish of 14. Choi was six months younger than Kim when she won her first of five X Games Aspen halfpipe titles in 2015.

It was Choi's fourth run that ultimately earned her the gold medal. She included a backside 720 melon, a backside 540 weddle, a frontside 1080 melon, and a Cab 720 truck driver in her routine.

According to her interpreter, Choi is overjoyed and feels that her hard work in training has paid off with this significant win.

She revealed that she got inspired to start snowboarding because of Chloe Kim, and now that she is almost at the same level as Kim at 14, she feels weird but is excited about the possibility of surpassing her someday.

With her first X Games victory under her belt, Choi is already looking forward to the next Olympics.

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Choi and Kim

Forbes reported that Gaon Choi and American snowboarder Chloe Kim have a longstanding relationship, having met in Pyeongchang in 2017.

Kim, the daughter of South Korean immigrants, and her father helped bring Choi to the United States to train with the Mammoth team.

Choi expresses her gratitude for the guidance and support provided by Kim and her father, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1982 to support Kim's snowboarding career.

Kim's father's time and effort in helping his daughter pursue her snowboarding career have also benefited Choi.

As Choi's coach, Kim taught her an essential rule about competitive snowboarding: judges care more about how well a rider can spin in all four directions (frontside, backside, cab, and switch backside) than how much they turn. This is a skill that Kim has mastered.

According to the Olympics, Choi, the young and talented snowboarder, found herself in close competition with Maddie Mastro, a representative of the USA, for the top spot at the Olympics.

Despite the fierce competition, Choi emerged victorious, relegating Mastro to a silver medal finish and Cai Xuetong, from the People's Republic of China, to settle with the bronze.

This win displays a healthy, supportive relationship between athletes that helped them achieve lofty heights in sports.

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