Reigning world champions win Olympic gold medals with some regularity, but a snowboarding titleholder beating a field of full-time skiers Saturday in the women's super-G at the Pyeongchang Winter Games was a sight never before seen.
The Czech Republic's Ester Ledecka, the 2017 parallel giant slalom snowboard world champion, skied to super-G gold at Jeongseon Alpine Centre, beating silver medalist and defending Olympic champion Anna Veith from Austria by 0.25 of a second and the bronze medalist, Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather, by almost 3 meters.
"I am so surprised about all of it. I'm really trying to win and do a good run every time but I didn't really realize that this really can happen," said Ledecka, who wore goggles throughout her indoor press conference because "I was not as prepared as the other girls that I would be at the (victory) ceremony and I don't have no make-up on."
Ledecka, who is the first athlete to compete in both skiing and snowboarding at the Olympics, said she could not believe she had won at first.
"Is this a mistake?' I was thinking, 'Okay, they're going to change the time, I'm going to wait for a little bit, then they're going to put some more seconds on,'" the 22-year-old said.
But the officials simply summoned the 43rd-ranked World Cup super-G skier to the podium to put an Olympic gold medal around her neck.
Ledecka said her fellow racers could barely hide their shock.
"They were staring at me a little bit, but they are very nice girls and they are very amazing stars," she said. "They've done so much in their careers so I'm still smaller than them."
Silver medalist Veith was full of compliments for Ledecka's feat, but still perhaps not quite believing it possible.
"For me, it was a big surprise that she could do this. But she is not so much at the World Cup because she also does snowboard. So we didn't know how strong she is. She deserved it."
But Weirather, who on any other day might have been the big story given she is from the tiny principality of Liechtenstein -- a country with a population of just 37,000 which has not won an Olympic medal since 1988, said she knew the Czech had it in her.
"It is amazing. The first time I saw Ester skiing was in Chile and I thought, 'Wow, who is this?' I talked to her and realized she is a really good snowboarder and windsurfer," said Weirather.
"She is multi-talented. I followed her, and it was a matter of time (before) she'd end up further in the front."
Now Ledecka turns her focus from two planks to one, with the women's parallel giant slalom starting on Feb. 24.
"I'm really looking forward to the snowboard and I think I should already switch on 'snowboard girl' now. It would be very nice (to win both) and I will, for sure, do my best for it."
More on the Olympics:
Olympics: Watabe looks to follow Hanyu's golden performance
Olympics: As promised, Hanyu steals Olympic show with gold
Olympics: 2 Swiss skiers cleared to compete after norovirus diagnosis
