The Rhythm of the Snow: Chloe Kim in Milan-Cortina
While the world is focused on the medal table of the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, I look at the images from the halfpipe through a very different lens. As a dancer with more than 30 years of experience, I see more than just athletic ability in Chloe Kim's sport; I see choreography at high altitude. Today, on the fifth day of the Games, Kim showed why she is the undisputed queen of the snow. With an impressive score of 90.25 in her first qualifying run, she immediately put the competition at a disadvantage.
It is fascinating to see how she moves. In the dance world, we often talk about 'flow' and 'steeze' – that elusive combination of style and ease. Kim possesses this in abundance. She qualified first for Thursday's final, ahead of Japan's Sara Shimizu and her teammate Maddie Mastro. The goal is clear: to become the first snowboarder to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same event. According to the latest updates from the BBC, the pressure is enormous, but Kim seems to handle it with almost playful ease.
Technique Meets Artistic Expression
What Kim does in that 22-foot high pipe reminds me of the focus needed for a complex salsa solo on an international stage. It's about timing. Starting a fraction of a second too early or too late and you lose your momentum. In her conversation with the media, Kim admitted that qualifications are always the hardest for her. "I'm really happy I cleared this hurdle, now we can focus on tomorrow," she said. This is a feeling every competitive dancer recognizes: the nerves of the preliminary round are often more exhausting than the final itself, because you simply must perform there just to be allowed to participate at all.
Interesting is her comment about her 'tank'. She indicated that she has much more in store for the final. She even considered repeating her winning run from the 2018 Games during the qualifications, purely for the nostalgic effect, but ultimately decided on a more tactical approach. That shows an enormous amount of self-confidence. In the dance world, we call that 'performance management'. You don't reveal everything immediately in the first round; you save the real 'showstoppers' for the moment it really matters.
The Parallel Between Snowboarding and Freestyle Dance
In my years at Miss Salsa, I have seen many athletes from different disciplines pass by. Snowboarding, and specifically the halfpipe, has a strong connection with urban dance forms. The way Chloe Kim initiates her rotations and holds her 'grabs' has everything to do with body control and understanding your own center of gravity. It is a vertical dance. The jury looks not only at the difficulty of the tricks but also at the execution and style. And that is exactly where Kim makes the difference.
If you look at the live coverage from CNN, you see that the margins are small. While other snowboarders fight against gravity, Kim seems to play with it. Her runs have a rhythm that feels almost musical. For us as dancers, this is an important lesson: technique is the foundation, but your personality and your own 'vibe' make people unable to take their eyes off you.
The Flip Side of the Sport: Risk and Focus
That it doesn't always go smoothly was evident from the heavy fall of China's Liu Jiayu during the same qualifying session. The competition had to be briefly halted and the atmosphere in the stadium shifted immediately. It reminds us that the risks in this sport, just like with acrobatic dance forms, are enormous. One small mistake on the edge of the pipe – the 'lip' – and things can go wrong. Kim, however, remained unfazed. That mental resilience is something we also work on daily in the dance studio. How do you pull yourself together after a mistake or when you see a colleague get injured?
What We as Dancers Can Learn from Chloe Kim
Although most of us will probably never stand in a halfpipe, Chloe Kim's lessons are directly applicable to the dance floor. Specifically, it concerns the following points:
- Trusting your preparation: Kim knew she had enough 'in the tank'. That comes from thousands of hours of training. If you can dream your choreography, you can really start to play on stage.
- Dealing with qualification pressure: The recognition that the first round is the most annoying makes it human. Accept the nerves, but don't let them take over your technique.
- Style as a signature: There are many girls who can jump high, but there is only one who does it like Chloe. Look for that in your dance which distinguishes you from the rest.
Tomorrow the final is on the schedule. Chloe Kim is going for her third gold. It will be a battle against the Japanese top athletes Sara Shimizu and Rise Kudo, but also against her own teammate Maddie Mastro. I'm going to watch, anyway, not just for the athletic performance, but to enjoy the pure aesthetics of a top athlete who uses her body as an instrument. It is elite sport, but to me, it is also a bit of dance.
The women's halfpipe final can be followed on Thursday, February 12. If Kim maintains her form from today, she might just write history in the snow of Italy. And believe me, that's going to look beautiful.