Chloe Kim has provided an update on the shoulder injury she sustained prior to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Despite the injury cloud hanging over the Team USA snowboarder, she came away with a silver medal in the halfpipe event.
Now a three-time Olympic medalist with two gold medals to her name, Kim is set to take a break from snowboarding to work on her injury rehab.
Chloe Kim Provides Update on Shoulder Injury
Kim was a guest on the “Kelly Clarkson Show” on Tuesday and provided an update on her shoulder injury to guest host and singer P!nk. She revealed that she would require surgery to fix the disclosed shoulder injury she suffered less than a month before the start of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“I feel like I did my job and now I get to celebrate,” Kim said, adding, “I need to get surgery. But they’re like, ‘You have to be in a sling for six weeks, and I don’t have time to do that right now. I’m just going to wait till I’m less busy.”
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When asked whether the injury had affected her performance at the Winter Olympics, Kim shared that it prevents her from lifting her arm as high as she would like.
“I don’t really feel pain. It’s more just worry that it’s [shoulder] going to keep coming out. It does [affect my runs]. But it’s more a range thing. I can’t lift my arm as high as I’d like to.”
Despite her shoulder injury, Kim delivered a strong performance at Milano Cortina and finished second behind Choi Ga-on of South Korea in the halfpipe event.
Regarded as one of the greatest snowboarders of all time, Kim became the first woman to win two Olympic gold medals in halfpipe at the 2022 Winter Olympics. She added another medal to her tally at the 2026 Games, winning silver in the halfpipe.
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Kim, who scored 88.00 in the final and finished just two points shy of the gold medal, later shared during a press conference how the medal meant a lot to her.
“A month ago, I wasn’t even sure if I’d be here. I could get emotional thinking about it. I really worked so hard to get here, and so this medal means so much to me,” Kim said (via CGTN).
It remains to be seen when Kim will have shoulder surgery or what her future plans are for her snowboarding career.
