Chloe Kim: Shoulder Injury Threatens Her Ahead of Winter Olympics 2026

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The winter sports world was shocked by the news of an injury to American professional snowboarder Chloe Kim.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist recently dislocated her shoulder during a training session in Switzerland, less than a month before the start of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

This situation also threatens her ambition of winning a third consecutive Olympic gold medal, a feat no other action athlete has ever achieved.

Despite this, Chloe Kim remains optimistic about returning to competition after receiving medical clearance.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim dislocated her shoulder while training in Switzerland for the 2026 Winter Olympics, she announced on social media.The first qualification run for the women's halfpipe is on February 19. pic.twitter.com/Ktm7ZPjipx

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) January 8, 2026

Chloe Kim recently announced that she dislocated her shoulder during training in Switzerland on Thursday, January 8, 2026.

Kim shared a video of the incident on Instagram, describing it as the "most ridiculous fall" as she crashed into the halfpipe wall.

Although she has not yet undergone an MRI, which is scheduled for Friday, Kim stated that her shoulder is not particularly sore and that she still has some range of motion.

However, her main concern is the instability of the shoulder joint, which has been “in and out” more than once since the initial injury.

This injury has the potential to derail Chloe Kim’s chances of winning a third consecutive gold medal, a feat that would make her the first action sports athlete to achieve.

Although women’s halfpipe qualifying for the Olympics doesn’t begin until February 11, Kim has already secured her spot on the U.S. team after winning the 2025 world championships and finishing the season ranked No. 1 in the world.

This shoulder injury also follows another injury she suffered a few weeks earlier at the World Cup in Copper Mountain, Colorado, in December 2025, although it was not considered serious at the time.

Chloe Kim was born on April 23, 2000, in Torrance, California, and raised in Long Beach, California.

She is the daughter of South Korean immigrants and is fluent in French, English, and Korean.

Kim's snowboarding journey began at the young age of four, at the Mountain High resort in Southern California.

At the age of six, Kim began competing as part of Team Mountain High, demonstrating exceptional talent from an early age.

Her father even quit his job to fully support her snowboarding career, driving her to the mountains and accompanying her to every competition.

In 2019, Kim briefly attended Princeton University, but then took a break in 2020 to return to her full-time focus on the sport that made her famous.

Chloe Kim has made history as a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding at the age of 17.

Four years later, she successfully defended her title at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, becoming the first woman to win two consecutive gold medals in halfpipe.Not only at the Olympics, Chloe Kim has also dominated the X Games with eight gold medals.

At 14, she became the youngest title winner at the 2015 X Games, winning the superpipe, and earning her first medal at 13.

She also became the first woman to win two gold medals at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, setting the highest snowboarding score in the event's history in 2016.

In 2016, she became the first woman to land consecutive 1080-degree spins in competition.

Then, in 2024, Chloe Kim made history again by becoming the first woman to land a 1260-degree flip, as well as the first woman to land a double-cork 1080 (two flips and one flip).

Numerous awards, including three ESPY Awards in 2018, a spot on Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People list, and two consecutive Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year awards, further cemented her status as a sports icon.

She is also scheduled to be included in the Madame Tussauds Hot 100 list in 2025.