Parallel Giant Slalom, Women

The story of this event was expected to be Czechian superstar Ester Ledecka, the defending gold medalist. At PyeongChang 2018 Ledecka had not only won this event but doubled up by winning the Super-G in Alpine skiing, an unprecedented Olympic double. On the World Cup tour in the 2021/22 season she had one win and one second place in five races, but everyone was looking at her.

Ledecka’s biggest challenger was Germany’s Theresia Hofmeister, bronze medalist in 2018 with three World Cup medals in the current season. Her teammate, Selina Jörg, the 2019 and 2021 World Champion and silver medalist at PyeongChang, was also formidable but had to withdraw with an injury.

Ledecka did not disappoint in qualifying, leading the way by almost 2½ seconds, over Hofmeister, as 16 of the 31 starters advanced to the knockout stage. Ledecka was unchallenged in the single-elimination races, easily making it to the final while Hofmeister was upset in the quarter-finals by Austrian Daniela Ulbing, the 2017 World Champion in parallel slalom.

Ulbing and Ledecka both won their semi-finals, Ulbing over Slovenian Gloria Kotnik by a close margin, while Ledecka advanced when Dutch skier Michelle Dekker did not finish. Ledecka took the gold medal race with Ulbing who also could not finish, while Kotnik won the bronze medal match-up.

Ledecka’s victory made her only the second female snowboarder to defend an Olympic gold medal, after Jamie Anderson (USA) in 2014-18 women’s slopestyle. She also competed in Alpine skiing at Beijing 2022, with a best finish of fourth in the women’s Alpine combined.