Wow, 'Awesome' 韓스노 Snowboard is also a 'big accident' in this Korea's Pick medal, and '18-year-old' Choi Gaon Halfpipe Final! The 13th is the day of destiny [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

Will Korean snowboard hopeful Choi Ga-on (18, Sehwa Girls' High School) write a miraculous history in Italy. Choi Ga-on succeeded in advancing to the final round of the women's snowboard halfpipe and will go on a medal hunt.

Choi Ga-on was ranked 6th out of 24 in the women's snowboard halfpipe preliminaries at the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics held at Lvigno Snow Park in Italy on the 11th (Korea time).

The halfpipe qualifiers will be ranked based on the highest points after two attempts to postpone them.

Choi Gaon scored 82.25 points in the first period. Then, in the second period, he did not receive a higher score than in the first period. If the score in the second period is lower than in the first period in the snowboard halfpipe, no separate score is given.

With this, Choi Ga-on succeeded in advancing to the final round, where the top 12 players advance. Now, Choi Ga-on is aiming to win a medal in the final round at 3:30 a.m. on the 13th.

Lee Na-yoon (Kyung Hee University), who participated together, failed to advance to the finals, ranking 22nd with 35.00 points. Lee Na-yoon, who complained of pain in her right knee immediately after the first period, withdrew from the second period and promised the following.

Halfpipe is an event that plays in the air while descending from side to side on a semi-cylindrical slope with an inclination. In consideration of the height, rotation, technique, and difficulty, the judges will score and divide the rankings.

On the same day, Choi Ga-on attempted a total of five jumps in the first period and landed neatly, receiving 82.25 points. The average jump height was 2.8 m. At the end of the first period, the ranking was third.

In the second period, he succeeded in jumping four times, but he did not overdo it in the last jump and eventually reached the final stage in sixth place.

Choi Ga-on caused a stir in January 2023 to set the record for the youngest win in a pipe event in the U.S. X Games, a global extreme sports event. At that time, Chloe Kim won the gold medal at the age of 14 years and 3 months, exceeding the previous record of 14 years and 9 months.

Then, in December 2023, he won the top prize at the Copper Mountain Competition in Colorado, USA, which was his debut stage at the FIS Snowboard World Cup, drawing attention once again.

But the bad luck of the injury hit him. He suffered a serious back injury at the World Cup in Rocks, Switzerland, in January 2024. As a result, he had no choice but to devote himself to rehabilitation for about a year and was unable to participate in the 2025 Harbin Winter Asian Games.

Choi Ga-on returned last year and made a name again. 2025-26 He won the International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup three times and ranked No. 1 in the women's halfpipe world rankings. If Choi Ga-on wins the Milan Olympics, he will become the first Korean gold medalist in snow sports. Overseas, Choi Ga-on is considered the favorite. As of the 11th, Choi Gaon received the lowest dividend from all companies except British betting firm William Hill. This means that there is a high possibility of winning.

Meanwhile, Chloe Kim of the U.S., the strongest player in the event, scored 90.25 points to win a ticket to the finals as the No. 1 overall player. Chloe Kim is trying to win her third consecutive title following the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Chloe Kim suffered a shoulder injury while practicing in Switzerland last month, which seemed to signal a red flag to achieve her goal of three consecutive losses. However, he was the only participant in the preliminary round to score around 90 points, showing his strongest performance. If Chloe Kim wins, she will write a new history of winning the first three consecutive Olympic snowboarding events. On the other hand, if Choi Ga-on wins the gold medal, he will break Chloe Kim's record for the youngest snowboard gold medal ever held.

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*This content was translated by AI.