Ledecka’s late burst mines super-g gold
Miscue cost American Vonn chance at medal
JEONGSEON, South Korea — Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic made a stunning run from back in the pack to take the Olympic super-g title on Saturday, with a mistake costing American Lindsey Vonn a spot on the podium.
Ledecka, the 26th racer to take the course, blazed through the course in a time of 1 minute, 21.11 seconds.
Defending champion Anna Veith of Austria earned the silver, finishing 0.01 seconds back, and Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein captured bronze.
Ledecka’s blisterning run shocked even the 22-year-old, who also is a snowboarder. Shortly after finishing and seeing her time, she asked, “How did that happen?”
Wonderful question. Even better may be this: Is she now a snowboarder or an Alpine skier?
She won the parallel giant slalom at the world snowboard championships last March.
“That’s so impressive,” Michelle Gisin of Switzerland said. “Better stay with us and don’t go snowboarding. I know that she can take a lot of risks.”
Veith won the Olympic super-g and collected silver in the giant slalom four ago at the Sochi Games, when she was Anna Fenninger. She married Austrian snowboarder Manuel Veith in April 2016.
High winds delayed the race at the Jeongseon Alpine Center for an hour.
Vonn started first, but went too wide on a turn near the end of the run, a miscue that most likely prevented her from winning a medal.
The American finished in a tie for sixth with Italy’s Federica Brignone.
“It’s definitely shocking. I wish I had so much athleticism as she has and hop from sport to sport,” Vonn said of Ledecka. “I feel like in the Olympics a lot of weird things happen.”
Vonn will have another shot to medal in the downhill.
At age 33, she is trying to become the oldest woman to win an Olympic Alpine medal. She won bronze in the super-g at the 2010 Vancouver Games — to go with her downhill gold — but missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics after surgery on her right knee.