Total domination. Ester Ledecká left no one in doubt who is the real queen of alpine snowboarding in the parallel giant slalom at the World Championships. In Engadin, she started her quest for gold with a sovereign qualification, which she followed up with unbeatable final runs. Zuzana Maderova, the second Czech at the start, fell in the first final run and finished tenth overall.
It was 2017, the last time Ledecká competed at the Alpine Snowboard World Championships. Back then, she dominated the giant slalom in Sierra Nevada, Spain, and it was no different this time in Engadin, Switzerland.
In the qualification, Ledecká gave all her rivals an incredible 3.29 seconds difference.
She then started her quest for gold in the final heats against Italian Jasmin Coratti - 3.21 seconds. In the quarter-finals, she knocked out Bulgarian comet Malena Zamfirova, and in the semi-finals, she got past Switzerland's Ladina Caviezel.
Ledecka's triumph is all the more special because this year she has already won a medal at the Alpine Skiing World Championships. No one has ever achieved a similar success, i.e. winning a medal at the skiing and snowboarding championships in one season.
"It's great. I'm glad I could finally compete at the World Snowboard Championships again. A big thank you to my coach who prepared me well, to the whole team and to my parents who supported me here," Ledecká beamed immediately after the final.
Another handcuff in the fire Zuzana Maderova After seventh place in qualifying, she started her final run well, but unfortunately she fell during the first heat and her journey ended with tenth place overall, which still improved her career best from the World Championship by twenty places. "I'm sorry, of course I wanted to move on. On the other hand, I don't know what I would have done differently in retrospect. It's quite an improvement from last time. It's great to get to the final, keep going. The slalom is this weekend. I'll do my best in the slalom." added Maděrová, who two years ago took 14th place in slalom and 30th place in giant slalom at the World Championships.
Other Czech representatives Adéla Keclíková, Klára Šonková, Kryštof Minárik, Adam Počinek and Filip Mareš finished their giant slalom journey in the qualification.
The men's title was won by Italian Roland Fischnaller. In the final he defeated the German Stefan Baumeister by nine hundredths. Third place went to Korea's I Sang-ho. It is worth mentioning that both "potato" medals, i.e. the unpopular 4th place, are accompanied by the surname Caviezel(s) - Swiss couple Ladina and Dario...
Results of the World Snowboard Championships in St. Moritz (Switzerland) - parallel giant slalom:
Women: 1. Ledecka (Czech Republic), 2. Miki (Japan), 3. Krol-Walas (Poland), 4. Caviezel (Switzerland), ...10. Maderova, 21. Keclikova, 30. Šonková (all Czech Republic).
Men: 1. Fischnaller (It.), 2. Baumeister (Germ.), 3. I Sang-ho (Korea), 4. Caviezel (Switz.), ...29. Minárik in qualifying, 35. Počinek, 39. Mares (all Czech Republic).
czech-ski.com/ CTsport/ gnews.cz - Ro
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