Ledecka’s snowboard gold keeps her on course for Olympic double-double

Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic defended her Olympic snowboard parallel giant slalom title with a quick final run on a sun-splashed course Tuesday. Next is a switch over to ski-racing to try and defend her super-G crown.

Four years ago in South Korea, Ledecka became the first competitor to win gold in two different sports at the same Winter Games. She has a chance to accomplish the feat once again in China. The women’s super-G ski race is scheduled for Friday at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center.

In the gold-medal race, the top-seeded Ledecka opened an early lead on Daniela Ulbing, putting pressure on the Austrian snowboarder along the side-by-side course at the Genting Snow Park. Ulbing made a mistake up top and later veered off course, with Gloria Kotnik of Slovenia earning the bronze.

Ledecka didn’t celebrate much after the win as she thought she still had another race and didn’t realised she’d won gold. The PGS used to be a two-heat affair, but it was only one for the Olympics.

The 26-year-old Ledecka was a surprise winner in the super-G at the Pyeongchang Games. Wearing bib No 26 that day, she made a late charge when many thought the race was over to wind up on top of the podium.

These days, she’s no longer a surprise. Just don’t ask her to pick snowboarding or skiing over the other. In her heart, she’s equal parts of both.

“I am super happy. If I had decided to only do skiing, then I would’ve spent four years on the skiing, and I’d be here watching this race and I would feel sad that I couldn’t compete,” she said.

On the men’s side, second-seeded Benjamin Karl of Austria held off Tim Mastnak of Slovenia for the gold. Russian athlete Vic Wild picked up the bronze as the No 9 seed in the bracketed field. Wild, who