Dramatic final snowboard tune-up for Beijing 2022

COPPER MOUNTAIN, United States -- The last of two December pre-Olympic qualifying events saw drama and uncertainty unfold as snowboarding Olympians squared off in the final 2021 tune-up before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

In the women's snowboarding superpipe finals on Saturday, Spain's Queralt Castellet was in the gold medal spot with China's Cai Xuetong in second place when Chloe Kim, the defending 2018 PyeongChang Olympic gold medalist, looked down the superpipe for her last of three runs.

"Last run for Chloe Kim," NBC announcer Todd Richards boomed to the crowd of hundreds lining the walls of the 600-foot-long halfpipe, and more than 1,000 fans clustered at the bottom, at the Copper Mountain ski resort, located 77 miles west of Denver in the Rocky Mountains.

"Huge pressure on this young lady," added one fan standing atop the superpipe wall, in attendance with his 10-year-old daughter.

But Kim, who took a year off snowboarding after the PyeongChang games to concentrate on her studies at Princeton University, saved her best for last and "seemed unfazed by the pressure as she strung together a 1080, cab 900 and a perfectly executed cab 1080 to score a 96 and capture the title," the Steamboat Pilot reported.

At the bottom, as the crowd roared in appreciation, Kim fell to her knees and was immediately mobbed by Cai, Castellet and the other women snowboard competitors, who piled on top of her with whoops and cheers of appreciation.

"This is what makes snowboarding so special," onlooker Dave Pyle told Xinhua. "These women are fierce competitors, but above all that, they support each other regardless of the outcome. They are all class acts."

"I am never putting myself in that situation again," Kim told the audience after her dramatic come-from-behind victory. "That was horrible. I was so happy that I was able to land, seriously."

Castellet finished second, and Cai took third. Next month's Olympic qualifier at California's Mammoth Springs will decide the final spots on the US ski and snowboard Olympic teams.

On the men's side, the snowboarding superpipe drama was replaced by the uncertainty that looms over the head of snowboarding legend Shaun White, a four-time Olympian who stumbled on his first two runs and only finished seventh overall with a top score of 82.