It was another historic day for Ester Ledecka, the surprise star of PyeongChang 2018.
Seven days after becoming the first snowboarder to win Olympic gold in alpine skiing, the Czech followed up her success in the super-G with gold in snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom.
The two-sport star is not only the first athlete to win Olympic golds in both skiing and snowboarding, but is the only athlete to have ever competed in both events at this level.
Racing from 26th place in the super-G and with the event having already been called by one broadcaster, the 22-year-old stunned the crowd to win by 0.01 seconds.
It will be remembered as one of the great moments in Olympic history.
So unprepared was she for skiing success that this daughter of a famous Czech musician turned up to her press conference wearing goggles because, in her own words, “I don’t have any make up on.”
Her victory in the parallel giant slalom, an event in which she is the reigning world champion, was far less of a shock.
From a prominent Czech family, Ledecka follows in the footsteps of her grandfather, Jan Klapac, who won ice hockey Olympic bronze in 1964 and silver in 1968 with Czechoslovakia.
