Ledecka's quest for Olympic snowboarding 3-peat grinds to a halt - ESPN

LIVIGNO, Italy — Ester Ledecka's quest to become the first snowboarder to win gold medals in three straight Olympics came to a surprisingly early end Sunday.

She lost her quarterfinal race in the sport's parallel giant slalom by 0.06 seconds to Austria's Sabine Payer.

The 30-year-old Czech racer was a big favorite for gold. She hadn't lost a PGS World Cup race in almost two years and hadn't missed a podium in five.

Ledecka made history in 2018 when she became the first athlete to win both a snowboard race and one on skis at the same Olympics. Her Alpine skiing super-G win was considered a shocker, but everyone expected her to dominate in her «better» sport, the PGS, and she did.

She defended the snowboarding title in China four years ago.

This year, she was hoping to get wins in both the Alpine women's downhill and PGS, but they were scheduled on the same day. She chose snowboard and ended up with neither title — her loss coming a couple hours after Lindsey Vonn's wipeout on the downhill course.

Ledecka is still scheduled to race in skiing's super-G Thursday.

Ledecka's loss gives Austria's Anna Gasser a chance to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic titles. Gasser takes the hill in big air qualifiying later Sunday. Also trying for a three-peat is Chloe Kim. Her halfpipe contest starts Wednesday.