2-time Olympic champion Chloe Kim injures shoulder, 'trying to stay optimistic' for Italy

American snowboarding star Chloe Kim said Thursday that she took “the silliest fall” in training and dislocated her shoulder, threatening her chance to win a third straight gold medal at next month's Winter Olympics in Italy.

Kim posted video of the accident in Laax, Switzerland, earlier this week as she practiced for a key Olympic tune-up there next weekend. She tumbled to the snow and went skittering across the halfpipe.

She did not say which shoulder she hurt and that she was “trying to stay optimistic” about competing at the Olympics but “I don’t have much clarity now.” The 25-year-old said she has an MRI scheduled for Friday that will reveal the extent of the damage.

"The positive thing is, I have range, I’m not in that much pain, I just don’t want it to keep popping out, which has happened,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay really optimistic. I feel really good about where my snowboarding is at right now, so I know the minute I get cleared and I’m good to go, I should be fine.”

Kim’s absence would deprive the Winter Games of one of its biggest names and one of its best storylines.

She is trying to become the first action-sports athlete to win three straight gold medals. Shaun White took three halfpipe golds, but they were spread out over five games.

Kim was the breakout star of the 2018 Olympics, a bubbly teenager taking gold in her parents’ home country of South Korea. Four years ago in China, she won again, with that victory punctuated by her messages about the ups and downs of success and fame.

Through it all, nobody has come close to beating her.

Two years ago at the Winter X Games, Kim became the first woman to pull off a 1260-degree spin in competition. Before that, she was the first woman to land a double-cork 1080 — two flips and one spin — and the first to land back-to-back 1080s.

She was working on adding to that repertoire for the Milan Cortina Games and, if healthy, would be the heavy favorite to win again. This injury throws all that in question. The Olympic qualifying round in women’s halfpipe is Feb. 11.

The Laax Open is scheduled for next weekend, and even if Kim were to get a clean bill of health, there is a chance she would head into the Olympics without having competed in the final of a contest this season.

Kim qualified for the U.S. team by winning a contest last year and has kept a light schedule in '25-26. She fell during warmups for the final in Copper Mountain, Colorado, last month and pulled out after hurting her shoulder then, as well. That injury was not believed serious.

Regarding her latest shoulder injury, she said: “It should be fine. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t take too long, but I'm going to be chilling for the next little while.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

FILE - United States' Chloe Kim trains before the women's halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

FILE - Gold medalist Chloe Kim of USA in action during the Snowboard Halfpipe competition at the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP, File)

FILE - Gold medalist Chloe Kim of USA reacts on the podium after the Women's Snowboard Halfpipe competition at the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the U.S. military said, as the Trump administration continues to target sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors from the forces the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.

Southern Command posted unclassified footage on social media of a U.S. helicopter landing on the vessel and U.S. personnel conducting a search of the deck.

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

A Southern Command spokesperson told The Associated Press that the Navy and Marine Corps forces were supporting the Department of Homeland Security, which was in charge of the operation. They confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard took control of the vessel.

The U.S. Coast Guard declined to comment on the seizure and told the AP that it was directing all requests for comment to the White House.

The Southern Command spokesperson wouldn’t answer questions on whether the ship was affiliated with Venezuela or under sanction, deferring those questions to the Justice Department and Homeland Security.

However, U.S. government records show that the Olina was sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M, and flagged in Panama.

While records show that the Olina is now flying the flag of Timor-Leste, it is also listed in the international shipping registry as having a false flag, meaning the registration it is claiming is not valid. In July, the owner and manager of the ship on its registration was changed to a company in Hong Kong.

According to ship tracking databases, the Olina last transmitted its location in November in the Caribbean, north of the Venezuelan coast. Since then, however, the ship has been running dark with its location beacon turned off.

The ship has a listed cargo capacity of up to 890,000 barrels of oil, which at the current market price of about $60 a barrel would be about $53 million.

Associated Press writer Dánica Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico and Michael Biesecker contributes from Washington.

FILE - Evana, an oil tanker, is docked at El Palito Port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Dec. 21, 2025. The U.S. military says U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The Olina is the fifth tanker seized by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)