Ester Ledecka has become the first woman to win gold medals in two different sports in the Winter Olympics. The first time she claimed a gold was in Alpine skiing, which is not Ledecka’s best game. A week later, on Saturday (Feb 17), she bagged a gold in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom.
The No. 1 ranked athlete in women's parallel giant slalom snowboarding had made her finals cut after marking the fastest time. Then she won four consecutive races to clinch her second gold medal of the PyeongChang Olympics.
The 22-year-old Czech stunned the world with the victory in the skiing super G last Saturday. She defeated Germany's Selina Joerg to win her second gold. Ramona Theresia Hofmeister had to settle for the bronze.
With this win, she now stands fifth in the athletes’ queue who won in two sports at one Games and the first in unrelated events with the previous double wins coming in Nordic events. She's also the first athlete overall to accomplish the feat since 1928.
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The Czech snowboarder beat reigning Olympic champion Patrizia Kummer of Switzerland and a pair of Germans ranked No. 2 and 3 in the world
"It's probably the best story of these Games, absolutely incredible. What an athlete. It's hard enough doing one discipline in alpine skiing." BBC Sport commentator and five-time Olympian Graham Bell said.
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Ledecka started skiing aged two and her passion for snowboarding was born at five. She started on the skiing circuit in 2016.
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Feature Image Credit: toursportingnews.com
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