Chloe Kim to take ‘mental health’ break from snowboarding

Olympic snowboarding champion Chloe Kim said she will sit out the 2022-23 season to focus on her mental health after a “draining” year.

The American became the youngest woman to claim an Olympic gold in snowboarding when she won the halfpipe at the 2018 Winter Games as a 17-year-old. She defended her title in Beijing this year.

“Just for my mental health,” Kim, 22, told online news service Cheddar News when asked about the reason for her decision.

“(I) just want to kind of reset. I don’t want to get right back into it after such a fun, but draining year, at the same time, knowing that it was an Olympic year.

“I just want to enjoy this moment, take it all in and then back to it when I’m feeling ready, but as of now the plan is most definitely to go after a third medal.”

She also took a full season off after the 2018 Games to focus on her mental health and her studies.

Kim, the daughter of South Korean immigrants, was born and raised in Los Angeles County. She has been a student at Princeton University since 2019.

She is the latest young world-class athlete to step away from her sport in recent months.

• Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu, a Bay Area native, announced this month she was retiring from the sport at age 16.

• No. 1 ranked player Ash Barty, 25, retired from tennis last month.

• Though Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, 25, has not officially left the sport, she has been on a break since last year and has not announced plans to return to competition.

• Naomi Osaka, 24, skipped several major tennis tournaments during two hiatuses last year, citing her mental health.

The-CNN-Wire
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