Three-time Olympic champion Ester Ledecka staged an emotional and stylish comeback from injury as she finished second in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom World Cup race at Rogla on Wednesday.
Ledecka, who will turn 28 next week, won super-G skiing gold at the 2018 Olympics. She won the snowboard parallel giant slalom there a week later and then again at the Beijing Olympics in 2022.
But the Czech skiing and snowboarding “amphibian” took a forced break this season as she broke her collarbone while skateboarding last summer and had to undergo two surgeries.
She sat out the entire skiing season because of that, and only returned to snowboarding for the last but one World Cup event at Rogla, Slovenia.
“I guess I was a bit nervous, but that’s part of the competition,” Ledecka said in a recording for media.
“It felt unusual, I didn’t have the pace I normally do this time of the season. It was the first time in a year, it was quite weird but great at the same time.”
“There were no surprises, I expected a tight competition and so it was,” said Ledecka.
She topped the qualifying round at Rogla and only lost in the final to Austria’s Sabine Schoeffmann by 0.05 seconds.
Reigning world champion Tsubaki Miki of Japan completed the podium in the third spot.
Ledecka said she was grateful to her rivals who “welcomed me back with their arms open”.
“It was really moving and really nice, all the guys and girls came up and welcomed me back. I’m really grateful for the environment we have here and for all those fine people.”
Ledecka will now travel to Berchtesgaden in Germany for the final snowboarding World Cup event -- a parallel slalom scheduled for Saturday.
“I did my best today. All the girls are fast, but that wasn’t a surprise. I’m ready for them and I hope it will get even better,” she said.
“There’s only one thing I thought would be different -- I thought I would win the final.”
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