Southern California

Chloe Kim Selected as Southern California's 2018 Sportswoman of the Year

Kim will receive the award March 25 at the Beverly Hilton.

Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder Chloe Kim will be honored as the Los Angeles Sports Council's 2018 Sportswoman of the Year at the 14th annual L.A. Sports Awards, organizers announced Friday.

Kim will receive the award March 25 at the Beverly Hilton.

Kim, competing last, received a score of 93.75 from the six-judge panel for her first run Feb. 12 at the Winter Olympics. (The high and low scores are not included in the average.) Standings are determined by a competitor's best run.

No other competitor topped 90 throughout the competition at Phoenix Snow Park in Bongpyeong-myeon, South Korea.

Kim was assured of the gold medal when the next-to-last competitor, Liu Jiayu of China, failed to top Kim's score from the first run.

On her third and final run, Kim received a score of 98.25 out of a possible 100.

"I knew I wouldn't be satisfied taking the gold and knowing that I hadn't put down my best," Kim said. "That third run was for me -- to put down the best run I could do."

Kim was the youngest Olympic halfpipe medalist at 17 years old.

Kim began her 2018-2019 season with back-to-back victories at the Copper Grand Prix and on the Dew Tour.

Born in Long Beach and raised in Torrance, Kim began snowboarding when she was 4 years old and competing for Team Mountain High at age 6. She spent third and fourth grades studying in Geneva and trained in Valais, Switzerland from when she was 8 to 10 years old.

She had qualified for the 2014 Olympics, but was too young to compete.

Previous Sportswoman of the Year award honorees include sprinter Allyson Felix, figure skater Gracie Gold, basketball player Candace Parker and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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