Choi Gaon Aims to Become the New Queen... "My Confidence Is Building"

Milan-Cortina Snowboard Halfpipe Debut
Started at Age Seven, Riding Momentum with Three World Cup Wins This Season
Strong Gold Medal Prospects, Preparing High-Difficulty Switch Backside 1080

The excitement is intense, and high school snowboarder Choi Gaon of Sehwa Girls’ High School is at the center of it. She will compete for the gold medal in the women’s snowboard halfpipe at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. If she reaches the top of the podium in this event, she will become the first Winter Olympic gold medalist in the history of Korean skiing.

The media’s assessment is also favorable. U.S. business magazine Forbes, in introducing eight athletes who could make the podium in the Olympic snowboard halfpipe, mentioned Choi Gaon first. Forbes evaluated that “Choi Gaon will be the strongest rival to Chloe Kim of the United States, who is aiming for a historic third consecutive Olympic title,” and added, “If Choi Gaon wins the gold medal, she will become the youngest Olympic snowboard gold medalist ever.”

Shoreview Sports Analytics (SSA), a Canadian sports data analytics firm from a Winter Sports powerhouse, also projected that Choi Gaon would win gold. SSA named Choi Gaon of Sehwa Girls’ High School, short track speed skater Kim Gilli of Seongnam City Hall in the women’s 1500 m, and the women’s 3000 m short track relay as Korea’s gold medal contenders.

Choi Gaon is aiming for the gold medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics with high-difficulty tricks. AFP Yonhap News

The snowboard halfpipe event in which Choi Gaon will compete involves riders descending a sloped, semi-cylindrical course while performing aerial tricks. Judges score height, rotations, technique, and difficulty to determine the rankings. The Olympic snowboard halfpipe will be held at the Livigno Snow Park, with the qualifiers on February 11 and the final on February 12, 2026.

Choi Gaon was born in November 2008. Influenced by her father, who enjoyed snowboarding as a hobby, she first took up the sport at the age of seven. In January 2023, she won the pipe event at the X Games, a world-renowned extreme sports competition, becoming the youngest champion in the discipline at 14 years and 3 months and earning the nickname “snowboard prodigy.” In December of the same year, she claimed her first career victory at a FIS World Cup event, quickly establishing herself as a world-class rider.

She has also faced adversity. Early in 2024, while competing at a World Cup in Laax, Switzerland, she suffered a serious back injury during training and had to undergo surgery, confronting the biggest crisis of her athletic career. After devoting a full year to rehabilitation, she returned to competition at the Laax World Cup early last year and won a bronze medal.

Choi Gaon is smiling brightly after winning the women's halfpipe final at the 2025-2026 FIS Snowboard World Cup in Laax, Switzerland. Provided by All That Sports.

Choi Gaon is maintaining peak condition heading into the Olympics. In December last year, she won back-to-back gold medals at the 2025–2026 FIS Snowboard World Cup events in Zhangjiakou, China, and at Copper Mountain in the United States, and then went on to win again at the World Cup in Laax last month. She has stood atop the podium in every World Cup event she has entered this season.

Her skill level is overwhelming, and she executes a wide variety of tricks: the switch backside 720 (taking off in the opposite stance and rotating twice), the backside 900 (taking off with her back to the wall and rotating two and a half times), and the frontside 1080 (taking off in the riding direction and rotating three times). Ahead of the Olympics, she is reported to be preparing a switch backside 1080, a trick in which she takes off in the opposite stance and spins three full rotations in the air. “My confidence is building,” Choi Gaon said. “I will work even harder to prepare.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.