Snowboarder Chloe Kim says she’s “good to go” for the Milano-Cortina Olympics, despite tearing the labrum in her shoulder during a training run last week in Switzerland.
Now comes a race against the clock to see if she can get ready for a contest that starts in less than a month.
The winner of the last two Olympic gold medals in the halfpipe posted an update to Instagram on Tuesday, saying that she wasn’t surprised to learn she had torn her labrum — the lining of the socket that holds the shoulder together. She did not say which shoulder she injured when she fell while getting ready for this weekend’s Laax Open.
“There are two ways to do it, and the way I did it is less severe than the other, so I’m really happy about that,” she said.
“Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard. I haven’t gotten nearly the amount of reps that I would have liked, but that’s OK.”
The women’s Olympic halfpipe contest starts on Feb 11.
The 25-year-old Kim, who has already qualified for the US team, would be the heavy favorite to win in Italy if she’s completely healthy.
She said she won’t compete this weekend in Laax. She didn’t mention the Winter X Games in Aspen later this month, which are the last big contest before the Olympics.
Kim has only participated in one competition this season — last month in Copper Mountain — and while warming up for the final there, she suffered a shoulder injury, as well.
Last week, she posted video of her fall in Switzerland, which showed her skittering across the halfpipe after losing her bearings on the landing of a jump.
At that time, she said she dislocated the shoulder and wasn’t in that much pain. An MRI last Friday revealed the labrum tear.
In her video, Kim said she’ll have to wear a “super-sexy shoulder brace” that is uncomfortable.
“I went through a bunch of different waves of emotions, but honestly, I’m really excited for this week,” she said.
The end of the video flashed to her picking up her boyfriend, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, at a train station.
“I’m so grateful to be able to do this, even though the lows can get pretty damn low,” Kim wrote on the post that went along with her video. “Excited for a week of exploration!”
Kim, who has also won three World Championship halfpipe gold medals, is one of the highest profile winter sports athletes in the US.
She became the youngest woman to win an Olympic gold in the halfpipe at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang when she was 17.
