Ester Ledecká, Czech Olympic superstar, returns as Czechia’s top medal hope
With the Winter Olympics in Milan just around the corner, we’re taking a closer look at some of Czechia’s biggest medal hopefuls. The athlete Czechs are perhaps pinning their greatest hopes on is three-time Olympic champion Ester Ledecká. At just 30 years of age, she is already regarded as a Czech sporting icon.
Ester Ledecká burst onto the elite winter sports scene like a force of nature—and unlike anyone before her. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, when she was just 22, she stunned the sporting world by winning an unexpected gold medal in the Super-G. Her now-famous look of disbelief at the finish line became one of the defining images of those Games.
Just days later, she added a second gold—this time an expected one—in snowboarding, becoming the only woman in history to win Olympic gold medals in two different sports at the same Winter Games.
She went on to defend her Olympic title in the parallel giant slalom at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, becoming the only Czech athlete to win Olympic gold at those Games. Since then, Ledecká has continued to confirm her unique status as a competitor capable of combining alpine skiing and snowboarding at the very highest level—earning her the nickname “the amphibian.”
This season has only strengthened her Olympic credentials. In the penultimate Super-G ahead of the Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo Games, Ledecká showed excellent form, finishing third despite a lengthy delay before her run. It marked her twelfth career World Cup podium in alpine skiing.
A few days later, on January 23, she demonstrated her dominance on the snowboard as well, winning the parallel giant slalom World Cup race in Simonhöhe, Austria, in her first snowboard start of the season. It was her 30th career World Cup victory overall—her 26th on a snowboard, to go with four wins on skis.
Away from the slopes, however, Ledecká has also faced challenges. She attempted to reverse the organizers’ decision to schedule her two main disciplines—the snowboard parallel giant slalom and the alpine downhill—on the same day at the upcoming Games. With little room for compromise, the schedule ultimately remained unchanged.
“Of course, I’m extremely disappointed, because I hoped it could be rescheduled, that it wasn’t impossible. I kind of hoped the International Olympic Committee would want to do this in the fairest possible way for athletes—that they would be able to compete in the sports and events for which they qualified,” Ledecká said last autumn.
Snowboarding has long been her stronger discipline, and as a result, Ledecká has decided to give priority to the parallel giant slalom at the Olympics, where she will aim to continue her remarkable run of success—while still planning to compete in the Super-G later in the Games.
“For me, it is far more valuable to be the only athlete competing in two sports at the Olympics than to win a downhill race. Historically, only two athletes have ever qualified for the same Olympic Games in two different sports. This is my perspective and how I want to make my mark in sports history,” says Ledecká.
Despite the scheduling setback, she remains one of Czechia’s strongest Olympic hopes—and her team has recently received a significant boost. One of the newest members of her coaching staff is Michael Mair, a former Italian downhill skier from the 1980s, who later built a long career as a respected coach on the World Cup circuit.
“In the summer, I got a call from Red Bull asking whether I’d like to join Ester’s team. For me, it was an honour, because she’s a real star. I said yes because I can bring some of my own experience from the downhill. I started working with Ester in Chile, and it’s been going well ever since,” says the 63-year-old Mair.
“It’s a great challenge, and I also like the fact that these will be my tenth Olympic Games. And they’ll be right at home for me, so that was another reason,” he adds.
As the Winter Games draw closer, Ester Ledecká remains one of Czechia’s biggest Olympic hopes, continuing to compete—and succeed—in ways no one else has.
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Ester Ledecká makes history with two World Championship medals in two different disciplines
Ester Ledecká has made sports history once again, becoming the first athlete to win two FIS World Championship medals in the same season, in two different disciplines.
