A recent LAAX Open training crash in the snowy peaks of Switzerland sent a jolt of anxiety through the Olympic world, as snowboarding superstar Chloe Kim tumbled awkwardly in the halfpipe. The concern was near palpable, as many saw hope for Olympic medals fading away just weeks before the Winter Games.

However, Kim recently delivered her diagnosis directly to fans via Instagram. “I have good news and bad news. We’ll start with the bad. The bad news is that I tore my labrum. I’m not surprised by that, but it’s official,” she said.

“The good news is that I just tore my labrum, and I guess there are two different ways to do it, and the way I did it is less severe than the others. So I’m really happy about that.”

This injury was confirmed following the Olympian’s MRI on Friday. Initially, Kim described this injury as a dislocated shoulder. But even with a less-severe torn labrum, it’s an injury that will cost her important practice time, in the crucial run-up to the Games. This includes key competitions like the LAAX Open and the Winter X Games in Aspen.

“Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is gonna be hard,” Kim admitted. “I haven’t gotten nearly the amount of reps that I would have liked, but that’s okay.”

This season has been nothing but challenging for the snowboarder. She suffered a shoulder injury during warm-ups at a World Cup in Copper Mountain last December, making this crash part of a frustrating pattern.

“You know, it’s funny. I’ve been doing this for so long, and every season I am met with a different set of challenges, so I guess this is gonna be the one this year. But again, I’m so grateful that I will be good to go for the Olympics,” she confessed.

Indeed, her entire snowboarding career has been a rollercoaster ride.

Chloe Kim has been through it all for Olympic glory

At a very young age, Chloe Kim emerged as a star in the snowboarding world, but it was with a lot of physical and mental challenges that she faced throughout her journey in the sport.

During the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, she secured her first Olympic gold medal, which also made her the sport’s youngest female champion. This, however, came with a lot of expectations from the fans, who wanted to see her succeed in every aspect of the sport.

Following the 2022 Beijing Games, where she defended her title, the snowboarder revealed that she wasn’t quite a fan of her performance. This was due to her gaining about 35 to 40 pounds above her pre-COVID number.

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The extra weight did become a hurdle for her, as the sport became quite demanding, with every single crash making her feel extensive pain.

Eventually, Kim got into shape but also focused on her mental health recovery. “I was in a bad place in my life. I just felt really lost and stuck in a lot of ways, and it was kind of turning me into somebody that I never wanted to become. The things I had to learn through that phase in my life pushed me toward therapy. I realized that I didn’t want to live like that anymore,” she said.

So, with her place already secured for a historic third gold medal, which will make her the first snowboarder to achieve this feat, only time will tell if Kim will be ready before February 11, when the women’s snowboard halfpipe competition starts.