Winter Olympics: Ledecka become first woman to win gold in two sports

Ester Ledecka became the first woman to claim gold medals in two sports at a Winter Olympics with a win in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom.

The 22-year-old Czech, who earned a shock victory in the skiing super G last Saturday, beat Germany's Selina Jorg to win her second gold.

She is the fifth athlete to win in two sports at one Games and the first in unrelated events with the previous double wins coming in Nordic events.

Ramona Theresia Hofmeister took bronze.

Ledecka's win on skis was one of the biggest shocks of the Pyeongchang Games, coming in an event she had never earned a podium finish, but she dominated the field in her favoured snowboard event.

The two-time reigning world champion qualified more than a second ahead of her rivals and looked serene throughout the knockout rounds.

The final was close in the early stages but Ledecka pulled away to win by 0.46 seconds.

"It's probably the best story of these Games, absolutely incredible. What an athlete. It's hard enough doing one discipline in alpine skiing." BBC Sport commentator and five-time Olympian Graham Bell said.

Ledecka started skiing aged two and snowboarding at five but only started on the skiing circuit in 2016.

Her super G win was described as "one of the most astonishing Olympic stories of all time" as she won on borrowed skis.

Analysis

GB snowboarder Zoe Gillings-Brier on BBC One

To carry on doing both skiing and snowboarding from such a young age, and to become brilliant at both, that's astounding.

She'll need two different muscle groups for her two sports, so she'll need to train both of those at the same time.

Other gold medals on Saturday

Canada's Toutant takes big air gold

• Switzerland win inaugural alpine skiing mixed team

• Switzerland's Galmarin win parallel giant slalom title

• Finland's Niskanen takes 50km cross-country skiing gold

• 06:35-09:55 (GMT): Curling - men's gold-medal final

• 12:30-12:45: Speed skating - women's mass start

• 13:00-13:15: Speed skating - men's mass start

Other news on day 15

Norway have ran out of commemorative, gold-coloured shoes after winning 38 medals in Pyeongchang, 13 of them gold. "Our ambition was 30 medals in total, but no number was set for gold medals. We will anyhow do our best to provide our athletes with shoes if they win more," said chief communications officer Nils Roine.

(BBC)