Choi Ga-on's Gold Named Among Top Milan Olympics Moments

Choi Ga-on's gold medal at the Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics has been selected as one of the best moments of the first half of the Games.

U.S. sports media outlet The Athletic highlighted seven standout moments from the Olympics on Sunday.

The Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, which opened on Feb. 7, will conclude on Feb. 23, marking the halfway point of the competition. More than half of the total 116 gold medals—68 in all—have already been awarded.

The outlet ranked the most striking moment as figure skater Ilia Malinin's failure to medal despite being a heavy favorite in the men's singles event.

The Athletic called the result "the most shocking disappointment," writing that "Malinin didn't even need to be perfect—a stable performance would have been enough to win gold."

"He led after the short program and chose a high-risk routine in the free skate when there was no need to do so," the outlet noted. "He ended up falling twice and finished eighth."

Despite his shocking individual result, Malinin avoided leaving the Games empty-handed by winning gold in the team event held earlier.

The second highlight featured was Choi Ga-on's gold medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe. Under the heading "the most fiercely competitive drama," The Athletic described her showdown with Chloe Kim.

"Two-time defending champion Chloe Kim looked very likely to win another gold, leading with 88.00 points through her second run," the outlet wrote. "But 17-year-old Choi Ga-on of South Korea delivered an outstanding performance to score 90.25, and Chloe Kim fell on her third run."

Choi's gold remains South Korea's only gold medal at the Games as of Sunday afternoon.

The mutual respect and congratulations exchanged between Choi and Kim at the medal ceremony and in subsequent interviews touched many sports fans.

The Athletic also highlighted other notable stories from the first half of the Olympics: Lindsey Vonn's injury, praise for drone-assisted broadcast coverage, reports that ski jumpers received genital enlargement injections, Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid's post-bronze medal interview confessing to infidelity, and Canadian women's hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin's injury absence.