‘Miracle on snow’ as Ledecka seals Olympic double
PYEONGCHANG: Ester Ledecka completed a historic Olympic double yesterday when the Czech star romped to snowboarding parallel giant slalom gold to add to her shock super-G title in alpine skiing. The 22-year-old world champion became the first woman to capture gold medals in different sports at the same Winter Games after beating Germany’s Selina Joerg by almost half a second in the Pyeongchang final.
“It was quite tough to change myself back into a snowboarder today,” said Ledecka, already the first athlete to compete in snowboard and alpine skiing at a Winter Olympics. “But suddenly the snowboarder girl showed up and today was a big day for snowboard Ester! “It was something very special,” added Ledecka, who wore her goggles throughout her press conference as she had after her astonishing ski victory.
“I’ll think about this moment until the end of my life.” One week ago, Ledecka stunned a strong field including defending champion Anna Veith and American Lindsey Vonn to win the super-G, becoming one of the fairytale stories of the Games. Ledecka now joins Norwegians Thorleif Haug and Johan Groettumsbraten as the only athletes to do a multi-sport double at the same Olympics.
Haug did the cross-country and Nordic combined double at the 1924 Olympics and Groettumsbraten won the same events at the 1928 Games. Ledecka never looked threatened in a giant parallel slalom competition she was expected to dominate, beginning the day by overpowering 2014 gold medalist Patrizia Kummer to avenge her loss to the Swiss in the Sochi quarterfinals. The Czech, dubbed a “miracle on snow” by her national media, dealt equally ruthlessly with Austrian Daniela Ulbing, who had narrowly avoided running over a squirrel in winning her first race.
‘Once in a lifetime’
Ramona Hofmeister was no match in the semifinal, wiping out as she tried to keep up with Ledecka. The German finished with the bronze. “In the super-G I really didn’t believe what happened,” said Ledecka when asked which gold tasted sweeter. “My plan is to stay with my heart, so for now I think I’ll continue to do both because I love both,” she added. “I’m in my skin and doing what I love.” Ledecka started skiing aged two and first strapped on a snowboard at five, going on to compete at world championships in both disciplines-though she had never medaled on skis before the Pyeongchang Games.
Two other athletes have won multi-sport gold medals at the Winter Olympics Finland’s Heikki Hasu won the Nordic combined title in 1948 and cross country four years later, while Russian Anfisa Reztsova bagged cross country gold in 1988 and biathlon titles in 1992 and 1994. Ledecka’s snowboarding coach Justin Reiter revealed that the Czech snow queen had been under intense strain all week.
“The amount of pressure that was on her was pretty incredible,” said the American. “But she’s very focused on her goals. She’s once in a lifetime and she’s got a great heart. She’s not just like a champion that’s kind of a jerk-she’s a really incredible human being.” Joerg also paid tribute to Ledecka. “She’s incredible! I’ve heard of people competing in summer and winter Olympics, but never in two sports in one Olympics,” said the silver medalist. “It’s more than a full-time job. I think she shows what’s possible in sports, she’s an amazing athlete and she deserves it. She’s the girl for the future and the world is looking to Ester now.” —AFP