OT Olympics: Stunning Upset in Super G
It's a result so shocking that the winning racer didn't even believe she had won, and NBC wasn't even bothering to broadcast: Czech snowboarder (you read that right) Ester Ledecka, noteworthy for being a pioneer in crossing over from snowboarding into Alpine skiing, shocked the skiing world by winning the women's Super G today.
You'd be shocked, too.
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 17, 2018
Ester Ledecka, a world champion SNOWBOARDER, shocks the field to win a surprise-gold by 0.01 in alpine skiing women's super-G! #WinterOlympics https://t.co/YtEpNzDMDu pic.twitter.com/EeoHuALcKX
Ledecka has shown some speed in the alpine season this year (yes, I am actually crazy enough to watch World Cup skiing on a regular basis, give me a break I live in Duluth) but this is totally unexpected. She was, by her own testimony, certain that there was a mistake, and she had beaten a field of great performances (including Lindsey Vonn, who lost due to a mistake late in an otherwise great run, and favorites like Lara Gut and Tina Weirather). Her gaping expression is, in its own way, one of the great gold medal reactions of all time.
NBC had already anointed Anna Veith (a good comeback story in her own right) as the gold medal winner, repeating her performance from Sochi, and cut away to figure skating. They're getting roasted for this but it's pretty standard practice in downhill and super G to pencil in the winner before everyone has raced; the best racers all race in the first 20 spots, both for dramatic purposes and to avoid the inevitable breakdown in the course as racer after racer chews it up. The last 25 or so racers are people that finish seconds after everyone else. Late-race surprises will happen every couple of years, but not frequently.
Kinda makes this all the more fun. Both Super Gs at the Olympics have been terrific.
February 17th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
she won using borrowed skis. yep. mikaela shiffrin's skis. incredible.
February 17th, 2018 at 3:00 AM ^
So this settles it right?
Snowboarders > Skiers.
February 17th, 2018 at 9:15 AM ^
I thought Johnny tsunami settled that debate a long time ago.
February 17th, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^
It’s pretty amazing but people are calling her a snowboarder to make it more dramatic. She’s had more success as a snowboarder but is a skier. She has a ski coach, trains for skiing, has competed in the World Cup in skiing and finished around 20th before. She just does both.
It’s like when an nl pitcher hits a home run in baseball. You certainly don’t expect it but the guys bat every game they pitch, it’s not like they’ve never picked up a bat before. People are acting like this is the first time she had ever skied
February 17th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
it's more like a pitcher hitting a walk off homer to win the world series. not just any random pitcher hitting any random homer.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
Meh... she was a champion skiier before she was a snowboarder. She just found olympic success earlier as a snowboarder. Interpret that as you will.
I think the only think this settles is that Ester Ledecka is a certified badass.
February 17th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
If she beat the men I would say she is.
February 17th, 2018 at 12:29 PM ^
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that she could beat any man in a combined Alpine/Snowboard GS competition.
February 17th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
Post the results when she does.
Come west to Utah this winter and enjoy the best snow on earth.
February 18th, 2018 at 1:20 AM ^
You make even Utah unappealing.
February 18th, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
Only when they take off the snowboard and put on skis.
February 17th, 2018 at 3:30 AM ^
Can someone explain the difference between Super G and Giant Slalom?
February 17th, 2018 at 3:41 AM ^
I have never skied in my life, but it seems the Giant Slalom has much more slaloming in it.
February 17th, 2018 at 3:56 AM ^
That a.... that about sums er Up!
But yes, Super G is more mini Downhill and GS has more "turning" than the Super G
February 17th, 2018 at 7:59 AM ^
And they increase each to more straight line.
1) slalom: this is the one with the sticks that are straight up out of the ground that they knock over as they go through them. Speeds generally are topping out around 35mph, and is very technical with tight turning skills required.
2) giant slalom: now the gates are the flags but are further apart, meaning more vertical feet is traveled from gate to gate. Still requires pretty good tight turning skills. Neither this nor slalom will see much, if any, tucking for any straight line speed because the gates are too close. Speeds here top out around 45-50.
3) Super G: now this is a high speed race. You saw this last night. There are fewer gates and you start higher up on the hill. The gates are even further apart and speeds are up around 65 or so at their fastest.
4) downhill: this is your high speed, straight-lining event. Gates are very far apart. Speeds here are upwards of 80-90 mph depending on the course.
February 17th, 2018 at 9:21 AM ^
Additionally, GS is a two run event while Super-G is, like the downhill, just one run.
February 17th, 2018 at 3:55 AM ^
Super G is fun to watch. I saw that clip of her "live" and it was priceless. She kept that face for like 5 minutes. And yes snowboarding >>> skiing. More skills involved. If you fail at snowboarding this chick just told you what to do: move over to skiing and dominate these lesser foes.
Hey shiffrin you taking lessons ??
February 17th, 2018 at 6:40 AM ^
I’m not sure what more advanced “skills” are required on a board, but at the least you are moving a hell of a lot slower one. But you do get the chucklehead boarder culture for free.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
I think the "more advance skills" include:
- How to plop down on your ass 10 feet from the lift, 6 abreast, and have a little boarder pow wow while remaining completely oblivious to the bottleneck you're causing.
- Doing the same thing right in the middle of a run, usually in a blind spot below a jump.
February 17th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
When the novice boarders wash out all the snow with their heel edge all the way down the hill leaving just ice.
February 17th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^
That was the one I was gonna go with. Sure, just go ahead and scrape all the snow off the top ten feet of the hill so that everyone else has a nice icy rocket start. And while you're at it, leave some surprise patches somewhere partway down, preferably near the trees on the sides.
February 17th, 2018 at 1:26 PM ^
As a lifelong, diehard skier, I must admit...Snowboarding requires WAY more skill. It requires a special athlete to chug 6 beers and smoke a bong on the way to their Olympic event and then win a gold...
February 17th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
At the everyman level (mine) I disagree. I spent many years skiing (at a high-mediocre level or a 6/7 on the 1-9 scale instructors use) before switching to snowboarding. The first couple of outings were painful, but I quickly got to a point where I could comfortably take hills that would have been dangerous for me on skis.
I think snowboarding is easier. That's partly why I do it. :)
February 17th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Weird switching to snowboarding after skiing, very awkward at first. Your muscle memory from skiing causes your legs to want to do one thing and... yes it’s very painful at first.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
Ignorant comment. More skills involved my ass. The only reason snowboarding has "more skills involved" is because they had to add tricks and flips to the sport in order not to make snowboarding an event where any potheaded fool could make it down the hill.
Ledecka is not a snowboarder who decided to strap on a pair of skis. She's until now a relatively unsuccessful skier who crossed over to snowboarding in order to compete at the Olympics in Sochi. So your stupid analogy is actually backwards.
February 17th, 2018 at 4:00 AM ^
P. Chan skating to Jeff Buckley's hallelujah. Hirano's insane snowboarding (getting robbed of the gold tbh) with a buzz of 1620 he didn't get to show and Russian ladies skaters just in another stratosphere
February 17th, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
I agree Hirano's run was awesome, but Shaun White's was absolutely unbelievable. Hirano's time will come but White had the better run.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^
Put back to back 1440 together just like Hirano. Shaun then added his signature move the McTwist and it was gold for him. Shaun earned that gold, Hirano will get his soon.
February 17th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
What was most impressive to me was just how silky smooth Shaun White’s run was. A lot of competitors in these events are hitting the tricks but always look a fraction of an inch from wiping out, with landings that look like barely controlled crashes. White looked like he had hardly any stress at all, just like “Ho him, spun and flipped a few times 20 feet in the air, no big”.
February 17th, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^
Great points, indeed. And as color analyst Todd Richards points out from time to time, "maintaining the line" within the pipe is also a key aspect of the judging. White's line on his gold medal run was nearly flawless. He most definitely deserved to win. Will be interesting to see if he returns to Beijing in 4 years. He's already a solid decade older than many of his fellow competitors. I am fascinated by the limitless drive of legends like White to be the best in their chosen fields.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
Those Russian female figure skaters are so much better than everyone else, it's ridiculous. Every other female skater looks like they are skating on sand compared to them.
I'm not a huge figure skating guy, but those two are absolutely must watch TV.
February 17th, 2018 at 11:33 PM ^
Can't stand figure skating. Hate it.
But those two Russian girls. OMG. Sometimes you know you're watching history. They really, really look like the two best figure skaters who ever lived. The 18 year old is already statistically in that discussion.
When do they go as individuals? Monday and Tuesday night?
February 17th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
And completed the 1620, gold would’ve been his...
But he didn’t.
February 17th, 2018 at 6:21 AM ^
She won on Mikaela Shiffrin’s borrowed skis no less. Shiffrin didn’t need them because she decided to skip the race.
February 17th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
That part of the story seems most surreal to me. I mean, this is the Olympics, not some NASTAR coarse where you can pay $10 to drop in after lunch. She didn't say "SCREW IT... Let me give this GS thing a try... Put me on the list!... Anyone have some skis they aren't using?" She had to qualify just like everyone else, and you don't ski at that level on a pair of rentals or loaners. The margins are fractions of a second, where little details like the right composition of wax make the difference between the podium and last place. So she definitely had her own skis and a qualified tech. New skis always take some getting used to... why experiment with some demos during a medal round? It just doesn't compute. There has to be more to this story.
February 17th, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^
Not much more to the story....just that the reports were wrong. She had her own skis.
February 17th, 2018 at 5:26 PM ^
Where did you find that she had her own skis? Their still reporting she borrowed Shiffrin skis two hours ago.
February 17th, 2018 at 6:42 AM ^
That sort of story is what the Olympics is all about.
Good for her!
February 17th, 2018 at 7:04 AM ^
you said gaping
February 17th, 2018 at 7:35 AM ^
I turned on NBCSN about half way through her run. That was very cool to see! The expression on her face was legit - she thought it was a mistake. It took her several minutes of convincing before she realized what was really happening.
This is why you never half-ass things.
February 17th, 2018 at 7:53 AM ^
for that last sentence alone!
February 17th, 2018 at 7:39 AM ^
Olympics buy caught the Men's Super G a few nights ago and it was fun to watch. Sounded like those guys from the Netherlands were going to stack the podium and a few of the later skiers (15-20 range) kept bumping them down...made for good live TV.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
As below, I think you meant Norway.... and I have to say NBC's coverage of that was kind of pissing me off. Like they designated the Norwegian skiers Your Official Heroes. Then they would miss someone's run so they could put the camera on a Norwegian who was watching the run we were missing.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
Yeah that whole Viking thing was a little much but a decent story nonetheless...for some reason I kept picturing that Viking drawing of Chase that was posted on here a while back. I was envisioning Viking Chase skiing the Super G with two giant swords as ski poles...ha!
February 17th, 2018 at 12:58 PM ^
NBC always does that crap. Olympics coverage is designed for people who don’t actually like sports.
February 17th, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^
I think you meant to say Norway. The Netherlands dominates speed skating.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
If we all skated to work.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
throughout the entire event. The color guy was talking way too much, usually about something other than the run we were watching. He said Vonn, who was the first to ski, could still win when only 3 or 4 skiers had raced. They kept anointing whom ever was in first place at the moment as the winner and said no one after the first 19 would have a legitimate chance of winning. Then they proclaimed the winner and cut away from the broadcast to go to men’s skating. Later, the skating announcers said we hear there has been a big development in the ladies super G. You would think that NBC had never covered sporting events before.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
By the NBC handled this event in almost every aspect. It was like as soon as Vonn messed up on the last turn of the course, NBC gave up on the event.