Ester Ledecká defended her Olympic parallel giant slalom title in Beijing on 8 February 2022. She became the first woman to win back-to-back golds in the event.
A final decided by a fall
At Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, Ledecká lined up against Austria’s Daniela Ulbing in the big final. Ulbing had impressed through the qualifying rounds and pushed hard. The contest ended when the Austrian crashed on her final run.
Ulbing’s DNF left Ledecká to cross the finish line alone. The Czech champion did not realise immediately that she had won. “I was so concentrated until the end that I didn’t even know if we had to go up one more time or not,” she told reporters afterwards.
A Czech record equalled
Slovenia’s Gloria Kotnik took bronze after Dutch rider Michelle Dekker failed to finish her run. With this victory, the 26-year-old became only the second Czech woman to claim three Winter Olympic golds. She now stands alongside Martina Sáblíková as the joint most decorated Olympian in Czech history.
The Beijing gold built directly on her PyeongChang 2018 exploits. There, Ledecká won the same snowboard title seven days after her super-G gold on borrowed skis. She remains the first athlete in 90 years to win gold in two different sports at the same Winter Games.
“I was not celebrating it at all, it’s still not sunken in,” Ledecká said. “I’m super happy, but in my head, I’m just still a little bit in the race.” Ulbing, accepting her silver, added: “I had to risk it all to try to beat Ester. That’s what I did and mistakes happen.”
Later that week, Ledecká switched back to skis for the super-G, continuing the dual-sport career that has reshaped Winter Olympic possibility.
