World Champs Gold Medal Three-peat for Kim
Silvaplana (March 29, 2025) - Two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim made history at the 2025 FIS Snowboard World Championships, earning her third career World Championships gold to match the all-time record for most world titles in women’s halfpipe snowboarding.
A wind-blown pipe and white out skies forced a two-hour delay on the women’s halfpipe final, forcing riders to anxiously await an update from event organizers on whether the contest would run. Despite significant snowfall and windy conditions, officials deemed the pipe worthy to ride and the competition was on. Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team teammates Maddy Schaffrick and Maddie Mastro competed alongside Kim for the U.S.
Kim set the tone early on with a dominant first run, executing a switch double cork 1080, two back-to-back 900s, a frontside 720 and a massive switch 1080 stalefish to earn a score of 93.50. With the win locked in before her second drop, the crowd lining the pipe watched as Kim decided to forgo the victory lap and proved why she’s the most successful female rider in women’s snowboard halfpipe history, attempting to land a 1260 on her final hit, a feat she has only completed in the run that earned her the 2024 X Games gold medal.
“I wanted to take a victory lap to progress the sport and try to do the craziest run I’ve ever done,” said Kim. “I was really hoping to put that down here, but next time.”
“I was just happy I was able to land something,” Kim joked. “Today was a big mental battle for off of us- I definitely had a couple of mental breakdowns during practice.”
Mastro, the 2024-25 FIS Crystal Globe champion, put down a solid performance in her fourth career World Championships, throwing her signature double crippler and crowd pleasing Haakon flip to post an 81.00 on her second run. Despite a top-to-bottom pull, the snowy conditions and slow pipe got the best of Mastro who finished the day in sixth place behind a second to fifth Japanese sweep.
Rounding out the American women was veteran Schaffrick who held strong and put down her first attempt but slipped out on her second to take 11th place.
Japan’s Sara Shimitzu and Mitsuki Ono rounded out the women’s podium. 15-year-old Shimitzu took silver and Ono bronze.
On the men’s side of halfpipe competition, all four Americans named to the World Championship quad were set to drop, led by two-time Olympian Chase Josey who headed into finals fourth overall after earning a massive 90.00 score in qualifications. The tough riding conditions got the best of Josey, who was unable to follow up his performance in qualifications and landed in 12th overall. Olympian Lucas Foster was the top American male, ending his second career World Championships in eighth overall. 16-year-old teammate Alessandro Barbieri earned ninth and Jason Wolle 16th in their first World Championships appearance.
The conclusion of World Championships marks the end of the 2024-25 halfpipe season. The team will return home for some well-deserved rest before heading back on the road to Aspen, Colorado for an airbag camp in April.
