Industry News
American snowboarder Chloe Kim and Australian snowboarder Scotty James clinched Gold in the Halfpipe events at the FIS Snowboard World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Kim secured her third World Championship title with a commanding first-run score of 93.50. The 15-year-old Japanese prodigy Sara Shimizu earned silver with 90.75, while her compatriot Mitsuki Ono took bronze with 88.50. On the men’s side, Scotty James delivered a stellar second run, scoring 95.00 to claim his fourth World Championship title. Japanese riders Ruka Hirano and Yuto Totsuka completed the podium, securing silver and bronze, respectively.Kim showed a switch frontside double cork 1080 stalefish, a frontside 900 tailgrab, a backside 900 Weddle, a frontside 720 frontside grab, and switch frontside 1080 stalefish in her winning run, while James’ run featured a switch McTwist Japan, a switch frontside double cork 1080 Weddle, a frontside double cork 1260 stalefish, a backside double cork 1080 stalefish, then a switch backside double cork 1260 Weddle.
Kim admitted Saturday’s weather conditions, which forced organizers to delay the women’s final by two hours, and her fall during training had affected her confidence going into the final runs. “Today was definitely a big mental battle for all the ladies, so first of all congratulations to everyone that even made it out here and fought through to get through,” Kim said. “I definitely had a couple of mental breakdowns during practice, so I’m just really happy I was able to land something.” It marks her third World Championships title, after first winning as a 19-year-old in 2019, and then again in 2021 victory. Kim did not compete in 2023 as she chose to take the 2022-23 season off to focus on her mental health and well-being. Following her Gold medal victory at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Kim announced her decision to step away from competition, stating, “I just want to enjoy this moment, take it all in and then get back to it when I’m feeling ready.” This hiatus was not unprecedented for Kim. After her first Olympic gold in 2018, she took a break from snowboarding to enroll at Princeton University, emphasizing the importance of balancing her athletic career with personal growth and education.
James’s victory marks a historic achievement, as he becomes the first male snowboarder to win four World Championship titles in the halfpipe event. It was his ninth World Championships start, and the fourth time he won gold after he won three back-to-back titles in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Reflecting on his accomplishment, James expressed his elation: “The 2023 World Championships was not a good day for me, I was pretty disappointed with my outcome and I wanted to make a statement for myself personally, that I wanted to come back and finish at the top, to have won four world titles again I’m pinching myself.”
