Chloe Kim and Eileen Gu will be leaving Beijing with more than just gold medals.
On Thursday, Gu came to support longtime pal Kim, 21, during the women’s halfpipe final at the 2022 Olympics. The American clinched a first-place finish with a whopping score of 94 during her first run.
When the two-time gold medalist’s big win became official two runs later, Kim celebrated with Gu, who embraced her with a wide smile and showered her with praise. Later, the 18-year-old continued to share her admiration for Kim on her Instagram Story, honoring the monumental achievement.
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“@chloekim did it again!!!” Gu wrote, accompanied by a sweet picture of the pair hugging. “So proud to have you as a friend, inspo, and big sister all in one.”
Gu, who was born and raised in San Francisco, is representing China during the Winter Games. She triumphed in the women’s freestyle skiing big air competition on Tuesday, narrowly defeating France’s Tess Ledeux for a gold-medal finish.
The duo both grew up in California and have known each other for years and have remained close as their careers on the slopes grew. Gu spent much of her childhood skiing in Lake Tahoe and honing her skills there. Kim, a Southern California native, regularly practiced 150 miles south at Mammoth Mountain.
While the snowboarding halfpipe competition signaled the end of Kim’s Olympics, Gu still has two more events to go. She will take place in both the women’s slopestyle and women’s freeski halfpipe competitions.
The slopestyle qualification round will take place on Sunday with the event final on Monday. Gu will finish her packed Olympic slate with the halfpipe qualifiers on Friday Feb. 17 and the finals the next day.
Most likely, she’ll have Kim on the sidelines cheering her on.
