“She is the 2017 world champion in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom,” NBC Chicago reported in 2018, and theScore called her “a two-time world champion in parallel giant slalom snowboarding.” “Since I was 14, I already had these discussions with my coaches about, ‘you need to choose and blah blah,’” she said. “And I said, ‘No, I want to go in both...’” NPR wrote that she “refused to follow the conventional wisdom of her coaches to give up one sport in order to specialize.”
On February 17, 2018, at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, she raced “the women’s Super-G race at the Jeongseon Alpine Center,” NPR reported. “Ahead of the Olympics, Ledecka had been ranked 43rd in the Super-G and 68th overall in the World Cup Alpine skiing rankings.” The field “included superstar Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. and other past medalists such as Lara Gut of Switzerland and Federica Brignone of Italy,” the Associated Press wrote, and “Austria’s Anna Veith, the defending Olympic champion,” set the time to beat: “Then it was Veith who took over first place, by 0.10 seconds. And that’s how things stood for the next 10 skiers.” “Veith was sure she’d clinched a gold.”
Then “the relatively unknown and low-ranked Ledecka took her turn as the 26th woman down the slope,” AP wrote. At the bottom she “stood so still, absolutely motionless and expressionless, for several moments after crossing the finish line in the Olympic super-G and seeing the numbers on a video board.” “It was, indeed, 0.01 seconds — yes, one one-hundredth of a second — better than Austria’s Anna Veith”: “by a sliver: 0.01 seconds, in a time of 1:21.11,” in NPR’s words, with “Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather” third. “Ledecká caused the upset of the 2018 Games by winning the Super-G on a pair of borrowed skis, beating defending champion Anna Veith by 0.01 seconds,” says Guinness World Records. “She had never before made the podium for an international-level ski race.”
“‘How did that happen?’ she asked a cameraman at the bottom of her run,” NPR reported, and “Ledecka said she thought, ‘This must be some mistake, that they’re going to switch the time for some others.’” “At a news conference that followed her upset win, Ledecka wore her ski goggles — ‘Because I wasn’t prepared to be at the ceremony and I don’t have makeup on,’ she said.” “She went up the hill a snowboarder but came down an Olympic champion skier.”
“One week after shocking the world by winning a gold medal in Alpine skiing, Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic strapped back into a snowboard and won a gold medal in her primary sport,” NBC reported on February 24, 2018. In the parallel giant slalom final, NPR wrote, “she emerged victorious in the final run against Germany’s Selina Joerg, finishing just 0.46 seconds ahead.” That made her “the first woman in Winter Olympics history to win a gold medal in two different sports at the same Olympic Games.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- She beat the world’s best skiers on borrowed skis, and she was a snowboarder. Guinness World Records: “Ledecká caused the upset of the 2018 Games by winning the Super-G on a pair of borrowed skis, beating defending champion Anna Veith by 0.01 seconds.” NPR: “She went up the hill a snowboarder but came down an Olympic champion skier.” AP: the field “included superstar Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. and other past medalists such as Lara Gut of Switzerland and Federica Brignone of Italy.” 312
- Her name is Ester Ledecká. NPR: “Ester Ledecka, the Czech athlete who stunned the world.” 1
- On a snowboard, she was a world champion. NBC Chicago: “She is the 2017 world champion in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom.” theScore: “She’s a two-time world champion in parallel giant slalom snowboarding.” 47
- Her coaches told her to pick one sport. Ledecká, in NBC Chicago: “Since I was 14, I already had these discussions with my coaches about, ‘you need to choose and blah blah.’” NPR: she “refused to follow the conventional wisdom of her coaches to give up one sport in order to specialize.” 45
- In February 2018, she raced the Olympic super-G anyway. NPR (February 17, 2018): she won “the women’s Super-G race at the Jeongseon Alpine Center.” Guinness World Records: “the Alpine skiing Super-G on 17 February.” 13
- She was ranked only 43rd. NPR: “ahead of the Olympics, Ledecka had been ranked 43rd in the Super-G and 68th overall in the World Cup Alpine skiing rankings.” 1
- The defending champion, Anna Veith, took the lead. AP: “Then it was Veith who took over first place, by 0.10 seconds. And that’s how things stood for the next 10 skiers.” AP: “Austria’s Anna Veith, the defending Olympic champion.” 2
- She was sure the gold was hers. AP: “Veith was sure she’d clinched a gold.” 2
- Starting 26th, Ester flew down the mountain. AP: “the relatively unknown and low-ranked Ledecka took her turn as the 26th woman down the slope.” 2
- She crossed the line and froze, staring at the board. AP: she “stood so still, absolutely motionless and expressionless, for several moments after crossing the finish line in the Olympic super-G and seeing the numbers on a video board.” 2
- She was first, by one hundredth of a second. AP: “It was, indeed, 0.01 seconds — yes, one one-hundredth of a second — better than Austria’s Anna Veith.” NPR: “by a sliver: 0.01 seconds, in a time of 1:21.11.” 21
- “How did that happen?” she asked a cameraman. NPR: “‘How did that happen?’ she asked a cameraman at the bottom of her run.” 1
- “This must be some mistake,” she thought. NPR: “Ledecka said she thought, ‘This must be some mistake, that they’re going to switch the time for some others.’” AP has her words as “Is this a kind of mistake?” 12
- She kept her goggles on for reporters, because she wore no makeup. NPR: “At a news conference that followed her upset win, Ledecka wore her ski goggles — ‘Because I wasn’t prepared to be at the ceremony and I don’t have makeup on,’ she said.” 1
- A week later, back on her snowboard, she won gold again. NBC: “One week after shocking the world by winning a gold medal in Alpine skiing, Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic strapped back into a snowboard and won a gold medal in her primary sport.” Guinness World Records: “the snowboarding parallel giant slalom on 24 February.” 63
- No woman had ever won gold in two sports at one Winter Olympics. NPR: “the first woman in Winter Olympics history to win a gold medal in two different sports at the same Olympic Games.” Guinness World Records: “First woman to win individual gold medals in different sports at a Winter Olympics.” 53
- She refused to choose, and she won both. NPR: “she has refused to specialize in one sport.” Ledecká, in NBC Chicago: “And I said, ‘No, I want to go in both...’” 14
Sources
- ‘This Must Be Some Mistake,’ Says Snowboarder After Winning Olympic Gold In Skiing (Bill Chappell, February 17, 2018) NPR
- ‘Is this a kind of mistake?’: Snowboarder Ester Ledecka wins gold in skiing (Howard Fendrich, February 17, 2018) Associated Press, via CBS News
- First woman to win individual gold medals in different sports at a Winter Olympics Guinness World Records
- She Used Shiffrin’s Old Skis — and 6 More Mind-Blowing Facts of Skier Ester Ledecka’s Stunning Gold Medal (February 2018) NBC Chicago
- Ester Ledecka Makes History, Winning Olympic Gold In Both Snowboarding And Skiing (James Doubek, February 24, 2018) NPR
- Ester Ledecka first woman to win gold in two sports at same Winter Olympics (February 24, 2018) NBC, via WSLS
- Did Czech snowboarder Ledecka really win super-G gold on borrowed skis? (February 2018) theScore
Notes
Whose skis: Guinness World Records says only “a pair of borrowed skis.” NBC’s broadcast said they were Mikaela Shiffrin’s; theScore reports that Shiffrin’s mother and coach, Eileen, said they did not belong to her, and that “Only one thing seems certain at this point: they weren’t Ledecka’s.” NBC Chicago: “The Atomic skis Ledecka used for her gold medal run were a part of Shiffrin’s collection from last season ... It is not known whether Saturday’s gold-medal-winning skis were actually a part of Shiffrin’s racing collection at any point.” Ledecká herself, as quoted by theScore: “I’m not sure which skis I’m using. I hope mine ...” The Short says only “borrowed skis” and never names Shiffrin.
Ranked and started: NPR’s 43rd is her World Cup super-G ranking before the Games (she was 68th overall); AP says she was “the 26th woman down the slope.” Popular retellings say she was ranked 26th, won by a tenth of a second, or that a cameraman had to tell her she had won; none of that is in the sources. NPR’s words are “‘How did that happen?’ she asked a cameraman.”
“Froze, staring at the board” keeps close to AP’s “absolutely motionless,” “seeing the numbers on a video board.”
The goggles: NPR places them at the news conference after the race, while her answer mentions “the ceremony.” The Short says “for reporters.” AP reports her words as “Is this a kind of mistake?”; the Short uses NPR’s “This must be some mistake.”
Ester Ledecká and Anna Veith are alive. Only race results, NPR and AP reporting and their own published words are used. Left out: the Beijing 2022 Games, her family, money and private life. The makeup line is her own public, light-hearted answer at the news conference, told the same way.
Pictures: no free photo shows either PyeongChang race or Ledecká on a snowboard. Ledecká herself is smiling with her gold medal at the Czech team’s welcome home on Old Town Square, Prague, on February 26, 2018, and in a second photo from the same evening, cropped to her alone (David Sedlecký); and in helmet and goggles at the World Cup super-G (January 22, 2017, bib 46) and downhill (January 19, 2017, bib 48) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Stefan Brending), not her Olympic races. Anna Veith, then Anna Fenninger, is at her Sochi 2014 super-G medal ceremony on February 15, 2014, alone and in the center of the podium (Aleksandr Veprev). The Jeongseon Alpine Center, where the super-G was raced, is seen on February 13, 2025 (Dittwjfsdgkvkdjg). Bogwang Phoenix Park, the snowboard venue, is seen during the 2018 Games: the snowboard-cross start on February 16 and snowboarders on a slope on February 12 (Steven Williams); the snowboarders are not Ledecká.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Mendelssohn, The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), Overture, Op. 26 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, public domain); Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73: IV. Allegro con spirito (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
