17-year-old Choi Ga-on of South Korea won gold while Korean-origin Chloe Kim of the United States took silver in her bid for an unprecedented three-peat, and Mitsuki Ono of Japan secured bronze.
The 2026 Winter Olympics are going on in full swing in Milan and Cortina as the best of athletes are competing hard to collect medals and memories. One such wholesome moment came during the final of the women’s snowboard halfpipe event.
USA’s South Korean-origin athlete, Chloe Kim, the two-time defending champion of the event, seemed set to earn her third straight gold. In competition was also a 17-year-old South Korean Choi Ga-on.
Choi did not have the best of starts to the event but ultimately emerged as the shock winner to dethrone Chloe. As Choi won the event, Chloe rushed towards the teenager and embraced her. She had mentored Choi and despite losing the gold could not stop herself from celebrating the victory. While Choi’s win was big, there was another big story unfolding at the same time.
Asian powers rise in snowboarding
Winter Olympics is a stronghold of the western countries. European nations like Switzerland, France, and Austria dominated many Winter Olympic disciplines throughout the history of these events. They had the money, they had the infrastructure and they had a cultural affinity towards snow sports as well.
However, things are changing now. Not just did a South Korean athlete and another one of origins in South Korea won the snowboarding gold and silver medals, the bronze to went to an Asian country. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono clinched the bronze, to mark the first time in history that an all-Asian podium had been achieved in women’s snowboarding halfpipe in Winter Olympics history.
After years of playing catch-up, these East Asian powers are now rising rapidly. South Korea, Japan, China, and the Asian diaspora in western countries is now challenging old hierarchies of winter sports.
With more and more Asians at the podium leading the charge, expect more of them to join these sports back home. This will further boost Asian efforts in snow sports and soon other countries too will join in. The power dynamics in winter sports are being challenged and it helps the entire winter sports ecosystem if these sports go global.
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