First Impressions with Chloe Kim

2018 is the year Chloe Kim became a household name.

Amongst her long list of accomplishments, she won gold in Pyeongchang, making her the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding medal. But Chloe isn’t new to historic firsts — she’s also the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s (two triple rotations) in competition, the first woman to win two snowboarding gold medals in the Youth Olympic Games, and she’s a first-generation Korean-American. Not bad for 17 years old.

Somehow, Chloe remains a pretty down-to-earth girl, and there aren’t many normal teenage things she’s missing out on. When she’s not pioneering first-evers for snowboarding, you can find her shopping (which she says is a “really good workout”), hanging with friends, or spending time with her dog, Reese. Her refreshingly honest responses have nabbed her headlines left and right, and she’s become somewhat of a Twitter sensation.

After countless interviews with seemingly every publication under the sun, we wanted to step back and catch up with Chloe on some other important firsts in her life. If nothing else, it shows that behind that golden glow, she’s a lot like the rest of us.

First trick ever landed? Probably a board slide on a box. And in the halfpipe, I think I did all four 360s, an alley-oop, 180s, all that stuff. I was all over the place. Halfway up the pipe wall, you know… the steeziest.

First car? Toyota Rav-4.

First trip out of the US? Japan.

First award/prize you ever won? Honor roll in kindergarten.

First major purchase with your own money? Gucci.

First vacation? I think it was to Florida with my mom when I was three.

First Instagram post? I got an Instagram account so late, I think I was 13. My first photo was me snowboarding at the Grand Prix in Mammoth, the last Olympic qualifier.

First CD? Probably the movie soundtrack to Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

First crush? This boy named Noah in kindergarten. It was at a Christian school and I had like, five crushes in that class. Noah, Alex, Tom, Trevor… it’s good to have a lot of crushes because you might get luckier.

Last question... what's next? I did a thing with Visit California and the deal was that I get a big vacation afterward. I can bring five people for five days, so I’m going to go boujee. I’m not sure yet if I want to take a plane or just drive to a resort and stay at a really nice hotel or house… whatever happens, it’s gonna be dope. ∆