There were no surprises about who ended up on the top spot of the X Games women’s halfpipe podium on Saturday night. Kelly Clark cleaned up to take a 4th consecutive gold medal (or “four-peat” in the parlance of the American commentary team), and a record 70th career title.

But while Kelly’s win looked all but inevitable from the minute she landed her first run, the battle for second place was much more exciting.

Kaitlyn Farrington, the rising American star who’s skills recently earned her a place on the US Olympic team, went head to head with 13-year-old prodigy Chloe Kim in a fierce fight for the silver medal.

Kim announced her arrival on the X Games stage with a blistering first run which earned her a score of 93.00. But two runs later, Kaitlyn bettered it with some seriously impressive combos of her own.

Kim announced her arrival on the X Games stage with a blistering first run which earned her a score of 93.00.

She couldn’t match Kim for amplitude (although how the hell such a small 13-year-old girl manages to get enough momentum to get as high as she does out of the pipe we’ll never know) but in terms of technicality it was pretty up there. And the judges marked it a point better, giving her a 94.

She reckoned with Kim though, who came out firing on all cylinders and snatched the silver away at the last minute by a mere 0.33 points.

OK so she might not have grabbed on her McTwist, but her overall style is ridiculously sick for someone so young – and that double grab at the end is worthy of the silver medal by itself.

Kelly Clark may still be the reigning Queen, but Kim’s performance last night showed that there’s a new talent in town. And one who’ll surely be challenging for the top spot of the podium soon.

x games 2014 – kelly clark’s winning halfpipe run

x games 2014 – chloe kim’s second place halfpipe run

x games 2014 -kaitlyn farrington’s third place halfpipe run

x games 2014 – women’s halfpipe results

Click on the R next to each score to watch the run in full.