American winter sports stars Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim earned the United States Sports Academy’s Athlete of the Month honors after the world saw their outstanding performances at the Beijing 2022 Olympics in February.
Chen set a world record with a score of 332.60 and won gold in men’s figure skating at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February. Chen landed five quadruple jumps and became the seventh American man to win Olympic gold and first since Evan Lysacek in 2010.
Kim became the first woman to win back-to-back snowboard halfpipe gold medals after winning the event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February. Kim, 21, scored a 94.00 on her first run to take home the gold.
The second place finisher on the men’s side was Swedish speed skater Nils Van Der Poel and third place went to American football star Cooper Kupp.
Van der Poel broke the world record with a time of 12:30.73 in the men’s 10,000-meter speed skating event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February. He also won gold in the men’s 5,000-meter event with an Olympic record time of 6:08.84.
Kupp caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns and earned MVP honors as his Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 to win the NFL’s Super Bowl on 13 February 2022. Kupp’s 1-yard touchdown catch with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter secured the victory for the Rams.
The second place finisher on the women’s side was American speed skater Erin Jackson and third place went to American monobob champion Kaillie Humphries.
Jackson became the first black woman to medal in speed skating after winning gold in the 500-meter race at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February. Jackson’s time of 37.04 topped the field and won Team USA’s first speed skating gold medal since Shani Davis in the 1,000-meter race in 2010.
Humphries triumphed in the inaugural women’s monobob event with a combined, four-run time of 4:19.27 at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February. She held off teammate Elena Meyers Taylor who finished with the silver medal.
Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and then voting online during the first week of every month. The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the prestigious Athlete of the Year ballot. A worldwide public vote on the annual ballot is used to guide the committee in making the final selection.
