Snowboarding superstar Chloe Kim has delivered a positive update on her fitness, confirming she will be ready to compete at the upcoming Winter Olympics despite suffering a significant shoulder injury in training.
Olympic Champion's Training Setback
The back-to-back Olympic halfpipe champion, who is aiming for a historic third consecutive gold medal, disclosed she dislocated her shoulder during an awkward fall last week. The 25-year-old American subsequently underwent an MRI scan which confirmed a tear to her labrum.
In a video posted on Tuesday, Kim provided fans with a mixed diagnosis. "The bad news is that I tore my labrum. I'm not surprised by that, but it's official," Kim stated. However, she sought to reassure supporters by explaining the injury's severity. "The good news is that I just tore my labrum and I guess there are two different ways to do it - and the way that I did it is less severe."
Road to Recovery for Milan-Cortina 2026
The injury will force Kim to miss the LAAX Open in Switzerland, an event she describes as one of her favourites. It also severely limits her training time ahead of the Games, which commence in February 2026 in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
"Obviously, I'm really disappointed that I can't snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard," she admitted. "I haven't gotten nearly the amount of reps that I would have liked, but that's OK." Kim, who is dating NFL star Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns, described the incident as the "silliest fall" on her second day of training.
Despite the setback, her resolve remains unshaken. "I will be 'good to go' for the Olympics," she affirmed. In the interim, she must contend with wearing a "really sexy shoulder brace" that she also found "really uncomfortable."
Pursuit of Historic Third Gold
Kim's potential third victory in the halfpipe at the 2026 Games would place her in an elite group of sporting legends. She would become only the 12th American Olympian to win three gold medals across a career. Furthermore, she would join fellow snowboarder Shaun White as the only Olympians of any nationality to claim three gold medals in a snowboarding discipline.
The Californian native, who qualified for her third Olympic Games, has been a dominant force since her youth. She first made headlines by becoming the youngest gold medalist at the X Games in 2015 at age 14. She then announced herself globally at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, winning halfpipe gold at 17 and becoming the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s in a single run. She successfully defended her title at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Maintaining a characteristically optimistic outlook, Kim reflected on the challenge. "I've been doing this for so long and every season I am met with a different set of challenges -- so I guess this is going to be the one this year," she said. With her sights firmly set on Italy, the snowboarding world watches as one of its greatest athletes navigates her latest hurdle on the path to potential history.
