Zhangjiakou (China): Dual Winter Sports Champion Esther Ledecka managed to defend the title of the Slalom Giant Snowboard at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday – even if he did not immediately realize it.
The 26-year-old Czech was the first woman to win a gold medal in two different sports at the winter Olympics when she took a skier and snowboarding in Pyeongchang four years ago.
He won the Gold Slalom Slalom Snowboard parallel again in the Chinese capital when he drove towards a victory in the final against Austria’s Daniela Ulbing.
But Ledecka did not immediately realize that he was the Olympic champion again.
“I concentrate on every run and I still think about what I can do better on the next road,” he said.
“And then I realize that there will be no other running.” Ledecka will now turn to ski when he tries to stick it throughout Beijing’s game.
He will compete in super-g of women starting on Friday, before going for gold below and Alpine combined.
“For me it’s natural and I have done this since I was little,” he said competing in Snowboarding and skiing.
Asked whether he would grab his ski or his snowboard if he was in a hurry, he transferred his stakes and said: “I will call my technologist – he can bring both.” Ledecka won’t have much time to switch from one sport to another.
At the Pyeongchang Olympics he had a week between the show but in Beijing he would only have two full days to practice.
He admitted there was a “very unique and funny situation” in his head after the final Tuesday.
“The part of my head is still racing now on this course, and the other side of my head has tried to cross the ski course line,” he said.
“And then a small portion celebrates including.” Gloria Kotnik Slovenia took a bronze in Genting Snow Park, where a small crowd of local fans watched the action quickly and was angry under the clear blue sky.
Benjamin Karl Austria won gold in the son’s competition, beating Slovenia’s Mastnak team in the final.
Karl was 36 years old claiming silver at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but never won gold to go with five world titles.
“As a child of 10 I wrote that I will become a world champion, I will be the fastest racer in the world and I will be the Olympic champion,” Karl said.
“The last one lost and I did everything in the past few years to prepare the Olympics.” Wild Russian-born America, a double gold medalist in the 2014 Sochi game, took a man’s bronze medal.
Zan Bugees Slovenia, which can be the most successful Olympic snowboarder that has ever existed if he claimed the fourth medal, who was missing in the round of 16.
The cared was tested positive for Covid after arriving in Beijing and spent 11 days in isolation, could only practice three days before the competition.