A torn labrum won’t keep Chloe Kim from competing in the 2026 Olympics.
The American snowboarding star said she tore her labrum in an accident during training last week, but it won’t keep her out of the Winter Games in Italy next month, confirming in an Instagram video on Tuesday that she will be “good to go.”
Kim said she underwent an MRI on Friday, which revealed the injury wasn’t as severe as it could have been, though it will keep her from competing in the Laax Open in Switzerland. She also won’t be ready to snowboard until right before the Olympics.
In a post last week, Kim shared a video of the fall that injured her as she was training in Switzerland.
She was going up the halfpipe when her snowboard appeared to catch onto something, and she fell forward.
“The bad news is that I tore my labrum,” she said. “I’m not surprised by that. The good news is that I just tore my labrum.”
“I guess there are two ways to do it, and the way I did it is less severe than the other, so I’m really happy about that,” she continued.
Kim is heading into the Olympics as a heavy favorite to win the women’s halfpipe competition if she’s healthy.
The 25-year-old has already won gold in the halfpipe in 2018 in PyeongChang and 2022 in Beijing.
Kim was trying to remain positive in the video as she discussed the situation.
“Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard,” she said. “I haven’t gotten nearly the amount of reps I would’ve liked, but that’s OK.”