Kim won the gold medal four years ago at Pyeongchang 2018 at the age of 17, and became a double champion this morning with a score of 94.00 points.

Her first run featured a 1080, a switch 900, a switch backside 540 and another 1080.

"I was like, 'I don’t want to feel all this pressure of not being able to land my first safety run'," Kim told The New York Times.

"So I just was overflowing with emotion when I was able to land it on the first go."

Queralt Castellet of Spain improved from seventh in 2018 to take the silver medal with a run of 90.25 points in the second round.

Her silver is the first for Spain at the Winter Games and the nation's best result since Francisco Fernández Ochoa won Spain's first and only gold medal, with victory in the men's slalom in Alpine skiing at Sapporo 1972.

Spain's Johann Mühlegg did win three gold medals in cross-country skiing at Salt Lake City 2022 but was stripped of them all for doping.

Sena Tomita of Japan took the final spot on the podium after posting two strong efforts - the best being her second run in which she scored 88.25 points.

Home favourite Cai Xuetong of China, a two-time world champion from 2015 and 2017, could not make it onto the podium with a best of 81.25 points.

Tomita's younger sister Ruka Tomita was fifth with 80.50 points.

Liu Jiayu, another home favourite for China after winning the silver medal at Pyeongchang 2018, finished eighth.

Mitsuki Ono of Japan could not live up to her second-place finish behind Kim in qualification, placing ninth in the final.