Choi Ga-on (Sehwa Girls’ High School), who captured the first gold medal in Korean snowboarding history, was selected as one of the best moments of the first half of the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics.

The U.S. sports outlet ‘The Athletic’ on the 16th compiled seven top moments as the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics reached the halfway point.

The outlet’s most striking moment was men’s singles in figure skating. The United States’ Ilia Malinin, touted as a strong favorite, failed to even reach the podium.

Malinin is figure skating’s biggest star and had been expected to win two titles at these Games. He drew huge popularity by landing the backflip (a backward somersault), which had been banned at the Olympics for 50 years, three times at these Games alone. After delivering team-event gold to the United States, Malinin topped the short program in the individual singles with 108.16 points but collapsed in the free skate with two falls.

The Athletic pointed out, “Malinin could have won gold without needing perfection, if he had simply skated steadily,” adding, “He led after the short program, and in the free skate chose a high-risk routine even though there was no real need to do so. In the end, he fell twice and finished eighth.”

The second scene The Athletic highlighted was the come-from-behind victory in women’s snowboard halfpipe. Under the headline ‘the most competitive drama’ for the showdown between Choi Ga-on and Chloe Kim (U.S.), the outlet said, “Chloe Kim, who achieved back-to-back Olympic titles, led with 88.00 points through the second run and looked highly likely to win another gold,” and described the reversal: “But South Korea’s 17-year-old Choi Ga-on earned 90.25 with outstanding execution, and Chloe Kim fell on her third run.”

Choi Ga-on’s gold was, as of the 16th, South Korea’s only gold medal and the nation’s first-ever Olympic gold in snowboarding. Some media expressed dissatisfaction with the scoring related to her victory, but that lost steam when Chloe Kim personally congratulated Choi on the win. At the medal ceremony and in interviews, the two exchanged messages of respect and congratulations, drawing applause.

Additionally, it listed as standout stories from the first half of these Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics: Lindsey Vonn’s shocking injury, drone-shot broadcast footage, a suit-related mishap involving ski jumping athletes, an interview in which Norway biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid admitted after winning bronze that he ‘had an affair’, and the injury absence of Canada women’s ice hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin.