Snowboarder wins Super G gold medal

In a surprise upset, snowboarder Ester Ledecka (from the Czech Republic) won the gold medal in the Alpine skiing Super G. She was on borrowed skiis (Atomics - borrowed from US skier, Mikaela Shiffrin). This is her first Olympics as a skier - at Sochi, she was entered as a snowboarder and she will still be competing in the snowboarding dual slalom later this week.

Her old coach wanted her to choose one sport or the other, so she got coaches who can work with each other and trained 3 weeks snowboarding, then 3 weeks skiing.

Anyway, her reaction at the finish was priceless. She looked at the time, but wouldn’t believe it. So the camera man went over and told her and she just shook her head, smiling and saying “noooo” as if she couldn’t dare believe it. Then she stood at the bottom with the other two skiers (all smiling) with her helmet and goggles on, as if she still didn’t believe she won or that in the excitement she forgot that she didn’t have to do a second run.

This will be one of the biggest stories, simply because of her endearing reaction at the finish. She was start number 26 and NBC had already declared the winner from the top seeds. Great run too - almost lost it on the last jump (her weight was a little back so she landed on her tails). Snowboarding parallel slalom and Super G have a similar rhythm so this might even change coaching/training philosophy for Super G going forward.

sempel said:

It is a great and historic achievement but a lot of people ski and snowboard (not necessarily being the best at both). I would have thought it absolutely amazing if she had won gold in two completely different disciplines that require two completely different skillsets/strengths. Imagine her winning gold in skiing downhill and then the 30km cross-country? That would have been super impressive.

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oh boy....

Sempel - unless you've raced competitively in either, it's probably best for you not to comment on what's impressive. Put it this way - since it's inclusion in the Olympics, how many have competed in snowboarding AND skiing (let along won gold in both)? One. How many Olympians have medaled in two different winter sports? The last time this happened was 90 years ago.

BTW, she's also a great windsurfer - in fact windsurfing forums are claiming that a windsurfer won gold in two winter olympic events. So we might see her in the 2020 games in Japan sailing in RS:X

sempel said:

Now that would be impressive - her winning a medal in windsurfing.

Simple and well-known fact - most top athletes are good at sports besides the one they are known for. So it's not the biggest stretch for one athlete to be good at different sports that require similar muscle strengths and coordination. Speed skaters make good cyclists which is why many cross over. Track athletes are good at bobsleigh.

If I saw a marathoner win at weightlifting, that's unexpected.

I know a bunch of people who ski and snowboard, myself included, not that I am going to the Olympics anytime soon. Yes it requires different balance and technique but it's more similar than some other sports combos.

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You don't seem to get it. Speed skaters train by cycling. It's not something they just decide to pick up. That's why Clara Hughes is such a good cyclist. That's why Eric Heiden was able to become a professional cyclist after his Olympic Speedskating career ended. He was a founding member of 7-11 (the precursor to US Postal). He cycled in the Tour de France. He did track cycling. But even the greatest speed skater possibly in history - NEVER reached the podium in a major international cycling event. More importantly - summer (cycling) and winter (skating) don't conflict so being able to compete in both doesn't require a juggling of the competitive calendar. Whereas snowboarding and speed events in skiing have a lot of conflicts.

I used to race in the Southern Ontario Division never getting anywhere near National level - but well enough that I attended a couple summer training camps. I've coached skiing. My daughter snowboards and raced through high school. Other than visualization and line (GS and a tight SuperG are similar in terms of rhythm and timing to snowboard GS) - the sports are very different - which is probably why you haven't seen snowboarders cross over OR successful skiers switch to go on to dominate snowboarding. Going even further - you hardly ever see a skier dominate all 4 events anymore (downhill, GS, SuperG and slalom). It's too competitive and too hard to train for all. Anyway - I predict that Ledecka will probably win a WC downhill at some point - she came in 7th at Lake Louise and has serious speed. If she doesn't injure herself trying...