Feb 08, 2022

It's GOLD! Ester Ledecká Wins Women's Snowboard Parallel Giant

Prague Morning

Czech Ester Ledecká extended her winning Olympic streak as she secured the gold medal in women’s snowboard parallel giant slalom (PGS) at the Beijing Games on Tuesday.

Daniela Ulbing of Austria claimed the silver and Gloria Kotnik of Slovenia the bronze.

The competition took place at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, where the athletes were blessed with clear skies and relatively warm temperatures of -9 degrees Celsius.

The 26-year-old Ledecká made history at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 by becoming the first athlete in Winter Olympic history to win gold medals in both Alpine skiing and snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom.

Ledecká said before Tuesday’s event she considers herself a “double threat” as half snowboarder and half skier.

Ulbing’s silver continued a successful season in which she has racked up two victories. She finished seventh in Pyeongchang four years ago.

Four years ago in PyeongChang, Ledecká stunned the world. As well as taking gold in her original main sport of snowboarding, the Czech sensationally came first in super-G skiing.

Nobody had even competed in those two events at the same Winter Olympics before, never mind winning them.