PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AFP) – Ester Ledecka sealed the first snowboard and skiing double victory in Olympic history on Saturday as she pulled off a stunning win in the women’s snowboard parallel giant slalom.
Ledecka, 22, beat Germany’s Selina Joerg in a tense snowboard final. The Czech world champion and hot favourite had earlier shocked the world of alpine skiing by capturing gold in last week’s super-G skiing.
The men’s gold medal went to Nevin Galmarini of Switzerland, who beat South Korea’s surprise finalist Lee Sang-ho.
One week ago, Ledecka stunned a strong field including defending champion Anna Veith and American star Lindsey Vonn to win the super-G, becoming one of the stories of the Games.
Ledecka started skiing aged two and snowboarding at five and has competed at world championships in both events, although she had never medalled on skiis before the Pyeongchang games.
GERMANS IN FINAL
Meantime, Germany completed a shock run to their first men’s Olympic hockey final Friday by dethroning two-time defending champion Canada 4-3, the fairytale squad advancing to a Sunday showdown for gold against the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
The Russians, seeking their first hockey gold since 1992, blanked the Czech Republic 3-0 to reach Sunday’s championship contest, but were overshadowed by an unlkikely German league all-star squad that collected their nation’s greatest ever hockey victory.
