Ledecka hopes downhill bronze paves the way for her next ‘big show on snow'
Ester Ledecka likes to put on 'a big show on snow,' no matter if it's on her skis or on a snowboard.
In her latest performance on Saturday, the versatile Czech athlete earned her fourth career world championship medal – but the first on skis.
After two golds and a silver from parallel (giant) slalom events at the snowboarding worlds in 2015 and 2017, Ledecka finished third in the downhill at the Alpine worlds in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. She was 0.21 seconds behind American winner Breezy Johnson.
'Now the collection is complete with bronze,' Ledecka said.
It was, of course, not her first medal from a major Alpine event.
Ledecka famously won Olympic gold in both skiing's super-G and snowboarding's parallel GS at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and added another gold on her board in 2022 in Beijing.
A scheduling issue at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics — where the parallel GS in snowboarding and the Alpine downhill are both set for Feb. 8 next year at venues hours apart — might deny her a chance to replicate that stunning achievement from 2018.
Through the Czech Olympic Committee, Ledecka has been lobbying for a switch of events.
'It's my biggest dream, and I really believe I belong to the best in the world in both sports and I wish I had the chance to prove it also on the Olympic Games,' said Ledecka, who turns 30 next month and is also a prolific windsurfer.
'I would really be very honored and happy if I could put on this unique show and be able to race on skis and the snowboard as well (at the Olympics).'
A tough choice
Ledecka had to deal with similar scheduling worries before.
One year after she won Olympic gold in both disciplines, the 2019 worlds in Alpine skiing in Sweden overlapped the championships in snowboarding in Utah and forced her to pick one over the other.
Back then, skiing won.
Ledecka, who has won four World Cup races in skiing and 25 in snowboarding, doesn't want to choose again. She believes Saturday's bronze medal proves her right.
'Today you could see, I am there, I can make a big show on snow,' she said.
Here today, there tomorrow
Ledecka was the fastest starter and led Johnson by more than half a second at the second split. She slowed after landing awkwardly from a 36-meter jump halfway down the course.
She was still six-hundredths ahead of the American at the final checkpoint but couldn't keep her advantage through the finish.
Her medal run came after she felt 'a little bit sick' the past days.
'My voice is still a little bit different,' said Ledecka, who sat out the last World Cup race in Germany with a back problem two weeks ago, but returned to competition by placing seventh in Thursday's super-G.
Next up?
'I need to work on my snowboard skills as well right now,' said Ledecka, hinting at the worlds in that sport in Switzerland in March.
'Now I am skiing, tomorrow I am again snowboarder.'
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