Versatile Ledecka wins parallel giant slalom at snowboard world championships

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Ester Ledecka added another trophy to her collection of silverware when she won the parallel giant slalom at the snowboard world championships on Thursday.

The three-time Olympic champion, who won bronze in the downhill at the Alpine skiing worlds in February, was in a class of her own and dominated qualification then easily defeated all of her rivals en route to the final. There, she beat the defending women’s parallel giant slalom champion Miki Tsubaki of Japan.

It was Ledecka’s first snowboard world title in eight years.

The versatile Czech athlete already had two golds and a silver from parallel giant slalom races at the snowboarding worlds in 2015 and 2017.

“It’s awesome,” Ledecka said. “I haven’t competed in a world championships since (2017) because it was difficult with timing because of skiing events.”

Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka, back to camera, hugs Switzerland’s Ladina Caviezel at the finish area of a Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom event at the Freestyle World Championships, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)

Aleksandra Krol-Walas of Poland won the bronze medal race over Ladina Caviezel of Switzerland.

Ledecka famously won Olympic gold in skiing’s super-G and snowboarding’s parallel GS at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and added another gold on her board in 2022 in Beijing.

A scheduling issue at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics — where the parallel GS in snowboarding and the Alpine downhill are both set for Feb. 8 at venues hours apart — might deny her a chance to replicate that achievement from 2018.

Roland Fischnaller of Italy, who is 44, won the men’s title by defeating Stefan Baumeister of Germany in the final. Lee Sang-ho won the bronze medal.