Ester Ledecka added another trophy to her collection of silverware when she won the parallel giant slalom at the snowboard world championships on Thursday in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The three-time Olympic champion, who won bronze in the downhill at the alpine skiing worlds in February, was in a class of her own and dominated qualification then easily defeated all of her rivals en route to the final. There, she beat the defending women’s parallel giant slalom champion Miki Tsubaki of Japan.
It was Ledecka’s first snowboard world title in eight years.
The versatile Czech athlete already had two golds and a silver from parallel giant slalom races at the snowboarding worlds in 2015 and 2017.
WATCH | Ledecka wins her 3rd PGS world championship title:
The 2018 and 2022 Olympic snowboard champion from the Czech Republic claimed her third parallel giant slalom world title at the FIS snowboard world championships in Corviglia, Switzerland.
“It’s awesome,” Ledecka said. “I haven’t competed in a world championships since (2017) because it was difficult with timing because of skiing events.”
Aleksandra Krol-Walas of Poland won the bronze medal race over Ladina Caviezel of Switzerland.
Ledecka famously won Olympic gold in 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 at venues hours apart — might deny her a chance to replicate that achievement from 2018.
Roland Fischnaller of Italy, who is 44, won the men’s title by defeating Stefan Baumeister of Germany in the final. Lee Sang-ho won the bronze medal.
WATCH | Fischnaller claims 2nd snowboard PGS world title of his career:
Fischnaller won the men’s parallel giant slalom gold medal, at the FIS snowboard world championships in Corviglia, Switzerland.
