Beaver Creek, Colorado — Ester Ledecka is an extremely successful dual sport athlete.
Her accolades include winning an Olympic Gold Medalist in Super-G (skiing) and Snowboarding Parallel Giant Slalom at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. She followed that up in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing with another Gold in Parallel GS, 4th in Alpine combined, and 5th in Super-G.
On the World Cup stage, she’s won two championships in Snowboarding Parallel GS. In addition, she’s achieved four World Cup victories in skiing over the years. Her winters are spent balancing the two sports, which can be challenging. This past weekend at Beaver Creek, she traveled with eight snowboards and twenty pairs of skis. Hopefully, her sponsors take care of her baggage fees.
However, the 2026 Olympics presented a major obstacle for the three-time gold medalist. Last month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released the schedule for the 2026 games in Milan and Cortina. Ledecka has two events scheduled for February 26, 2026, with them being held in different locations. With a four-hour drive between the two locations, competing in both competitions would be impossible. Ultimately, Ledecka is asking for a schedule change, which the IOC has done for athletes in similar instances in the past.
This past weekend at Beaver Creek, Ledecka described her frustration about the situation to the Associated Press:
It’s like someone has broken your dream. So please change it. Please, please, please. It’s my biggest dream to do both. I can create a great show for people.
I’d probably care less if this was a middle-of-the-road athlete, but this is an Olympic Gold medalist, for Pete’s sake. Here’s hoping the IOC does the right thing and reschedules one of the events.
Image/Video Credits: Red Bull, Olympics, FIS Ski
