Snowboarder Ester Ledecka Shocks Lindsey Vonn and the Super-G Field
- 6 years ago
Snowboarder Ester Ledecka Shocks Lindsey Vonn and the Super-G Field
Ledecka, currently ranked 43rd in the women’s World Cup super-G standings, outpaced a field
that included the American Lindsey Vonn, who was competing in the Olympics for the first time in eight years.
Throughout her news conference, Ledecka seemed less astounded
that a ski racer who splits her time on the snowboarding pro circuit could win an Olympic Alpine gold medal than her inquisitors.
Ledecka has won world championship medals in snowboarding but never came close to winning a World Cup ski race.
“I thought they were going to put a couple more seconds on my time,” Ledecka later said, laughing and well aware
that the race would be decided by hundredths of a second.
Some of her colleagues knew that Ledecka had often won sections of training runs for the super-G
and the downhill, the other ski event she has entered on the World Cup.
Ledecka, who has both an Alpine coach and a snowboarding coach, was scheduled to compete in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom next week.
Ledecka’s time of 1 minute 21.11 seconds was one-hundredth of a second faster – the narrowest margin of victory
possible in Alpine racing — than the silver medalist Anna Veith, the defending champion in the event.
“She could never put it all together,” Italy’s Sofia Goggia, who finished 11th Saturday, said of Ledecka.
Ledecka’s highest finish in a World Cup super-G before Saturday had been 19th.
Ledecka, currently ranked 43rd in the women’s World Cup super-G standings, outpaced a field
that included the American Lindsey Vonn, who was competing in the Olympics for the first time in eight years.
Throughout her news conference, Ledecka seemed less astounded
that a ski racer who splits her time on the snowboarding pro circuit could win an Olympic Alpine gold medal than her inquisitors.
Ledecka has won world championship medals in snowboarding but never came close to winning a World Cup ski race.
“I thought they were going to put a couple more seconds on my time,” Ledecka later said, laughing and well aware
that the race would be decided by hundredths of a second.
Some of her colleagues knew that Ledecka had often won sections of training runs for the super-G
and the downhill, the other ski event she has entered on the World Cup.
Ledecka, who has both an Alpine coach and a snowboarding coach, was scheduled to compete in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom next week.
Ledecka’s time of 1 minute 21.11 seconds was one-hundredth of a second faster – the narrowest margin of victory
possible in Alpine racing — than the silver medalist Anna Veith, the defending champion in the event.
“She could never put it all together,” Italy’s Sofia Goggia, who finished 11th Saturday, said of Ledecka.
Ledecka’s highest finish in a World Cup super-G before Saturday had been 19th.