Snowboarder accidentally became Olympic champion in skiing

Photo: Twitter DW Sports

The Czech champion in snowboarding world champion 22-year-old Esther Ledecka became the champion in the women's alpine skiing supergiant at the Olympics in Pkhenchkhane. She ended the competition with a 1 result a minute 21.11 seconds, overtaking by one hundredth of a second Austrian athlete Anna Veit, writes the Guardian.

“I really don't know what happened. I thought it was some kind of mistake, that they were switching the time on the scoreboard. I just saw my mother, we looked at each other and didn’t understand,” says Ledecka.

“I was probably the only snowboarder here. All the other girls didn't take much risk. They must have been under a lot of pressure. I just tried to do my best,” the athlete added.

As writes edition NPR, the improbability of this victory illustrates that moment that Ledetsk was 68 place in the World Cup in this sport, and Veit - 17. Ledetsk began her career as a skier only in 2016.

In addition, as he writes RBC, before the start of the start, Ledetsk received the 26 number, and this position usually leaves no chance for athletes to hit the podium - in most cases, the favorites get one of the first 20 start numbers. After the first half of the distance, Ledetsk showed only 26 time, but at the bottom of the slope was able to accelerate. She showed 1: 21,11 time, and this result was the best.

Veit didn't expect the Olympics to end this way either.

“My first reaction was: how is this possible? She snowboards, we didn't know how strong an athlete she is. She deserved this victory, and I want to congratulate her,” said the athlete, who expected to get gold in the alpine skiing discipline.

At a press conference to journalists, Ledetska came out in a ski mask.

“I didn’t expect to get on the podium. That’s why I didn’t prepare my makeup,” the athlete justified herself.

Photo: Twitter megans harrod

Later journalists AFP noticed the Olympic champion in KFC. She ate fried chicken. When asked by the journalists why she does this, the athlete replied: "Do not tell my coaches."

Photo: Twitter Will Graves

Note that Ledetsk has achieved major success in snowboarding - she became the world champion in the parallel giant slalom in this sport and won the silver of the last World Championship in the parallel slalom. In Pkhenchkhane, she will perform in the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding and retains the chances of becoming the first athlete in history to win medals in two different disciplines at the same Olympiad.

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