Kaitlyn Brooke Farrington (born December 18, 1989) is an American former professional

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...

who grew up on a cattle ranch near Bellevue, Idaho, and now lives in

Whitefish, Montana Whitefish ( Salish: epɫx̣ʷy̓u, "has whitefish") is a town in Flathead County, Montana, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census, there were 7,751 people in the town. History Long before the first Europeans came to Whitefish ...

. She won the gold medal in the women's half-pipe competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Prior to her Olympic debut, she competed in the 2010 European Winter X Games and won the gold medal. On December 8, 2022, Farrington was announced as a backup crew member of the

dearMoon project The ''dearMoon'' project is a lunar tourism mission and art project conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. It will make use of a SpaceX Starship spacecraft on a private spaceflight flying a single circumlunar trajectory ...

, a lunar spaceflight mission.

Early life

Farrington was born to parents Gary and Suz Farrington; she has an older sister. The Farringtons own a ranch near Sun Valley, Idaho, and Kaitlyn grew up riding horses. Suz Farrington credited her daughter's smooth style with good balance from riding horses. She was skiing by age three and barrel racing at age five. "She was skiing on a tether for two days, then said, 'I'm done with this stuff,'" remembered Mr. Farrington.Kaitlyn Farrington “Cowgirls Up” For Gold
/ref> By high school, Farrington was competing as a snowboarder, and her parents had to sell the cows on their ranch to pay for expenses.

Career

Farrington is left-handed and uses a

goofy stance Footedness is the natural preference of one's left or right foot for various purposes. It is the foot equivalent of handedness. While purposes vary, such as applying the greatest force in a certain foot to complete the action of kick as opposed to ...

. She became the first women's rider to perform a backside 1080. She goes about 9 feet high above the edge of the half-pipe, but considers herself as a more technical rider in order to make up for her height. Farrington has had five wrist surgeries.Kaitlyn Farrington
/ref> * 2014 Sochi Olympic Games - Half pipe women - gold medalist * 2013 FIS Snowboarding World Championships – Women's halfpipe, 4th place, behind Arielle Gold,

Holly Crawford Holly Crawford (born 10 February 1984) is an Australian half-pipe snowboarder. She competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics and placed 22nd and 12th in her qualification runs. She ranked 19th out of 34 competitors and did not make the final. Crawfo ...

, and

Sophie Rodriguez Sophie Rodriguez (born 7 July 1988) is a French snowboarder who won a bronze medal in halfpipe at 2013 FIS Snowboarding World Championships, behind Arielle Gold Arielle Townsend Gold (born May 4, 1996) is an American Olympic medalist snowbo ...

. *2013 World Cup Sochi, 5th place *2013 World Cup Park City, bronze medalist *2013 World Cup Copper Mountain, 5th place *2012 U.S. Grand Prix overall champion *2012 Dew Tour Breckenridge, gold medalist * 2011 X Games Aspen, silver medalist *2011 Dew Tour, silver medalist * 2010 X Games Europe, gold medalist *2010 Dew Tour, overall champion *2008 Junior World Championships, silver medalist On January 16, 2015, Farrington announced via Instagram of her retirement from professional snowboarding at only 25 years of age. In October 2014, Farrington was involved in a fall in Austria while trying to execute a frontside 360 off a small jump. Once returning home to Salt Lake City, Farrington went to get an MRI, to find that she had been diagnosed with congenital cervical stenosis, a congenital spine condition. Doctors told her that competitive snowboarding would put her at great risk of extreme injury due to the condition. Farrington has said "I can walk. I can still snowboard, I just have to keep my feet on the ground". She has been accepted as a backup crewmember for the ''dearMoon'' project.

Personal life

Farrington has a cat named Zilla, after Godzilla. She collects refrigerator magnets from her travel stops and loves running and music. Farrington said she was listening to Ghostland Observatory's Give Me The Beat when competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. She recently picked up Frisbee golf and tries to surf, which she calls "drowning". A black diamond run on Sun Valley's

Bald Mountain Bald Mountain may refer to: Geographic locations in the United States * Bald Mountain (Heceta Island), Alaska * Bald Mountain (California), a name given to over fifty summits in California ** Bald Mountain (Humboldt County) * , a peak near Littl ...

was renamed "Kaitlyn's Bowl" in her honor.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrington, Kaitlyn 1989 births Living people American female snowboarders Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in snowboarding Olympic medalists in snowboarding People from Hailey, Idaho Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Idaho People from Bellevue, Idaho X Games athletes 21st-century American women