Snowboarder Choi Gaon wins 2nd consecutive halfpipe World Cup title
Choi Gaon of South Korea poses with the winner's belt after winning the women's halfpipe title at the International Ski Federation Snowboard World Cup in Copper Mountain, Colorado, Dec. 19, in this Getty Images photo. Yonhap
Teen snowboarder Choi Gaon has won a World Cup title in the women's halfpipe for the second consecutive week.
Choi finished first with 94.50 points in the latest International Ski Federation Snowboard World Cup stop in Copper Mountain, Colorado, Friday (local time). The 17-year-old had also won a World Cup halfpipe title in China last week.
Sena Tomita of Japan finished in second place with 88.75 points, followed by Bea Kim of the United States with 75.25 points.
Chloe Kim, two-time Olympic gold medalist and Korean American superstar, did not compete in the final with an undisclosed injury.
Choi and Kim had topped the qualification scores in their respective groups earlier in the week.
This was Choi's third career World Cup title, and it further boosts her hopes of reaching the podium at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in two months' time.
This was the only competition that Kim had been scheduled to compete in before the Olympics, and it wasn't immediately clear how her injury absence in the final would affect her lead-up to the three-peat bid.
The next halfpipe World Cup will be in January in Calgary, Canada.