BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) — As the situation stands, snowboarder/ski racer Ester Ledecka has two Olympic races on the same day in 2026, at nearly the same time and in Italian mountain towns hours apart.
The Czech Republic standout simply can’t make both starting gates. So she may have a big decision to make on Feb. 8, 2026 — race in the women's downhill at the Milan-Cortina Games or go for a three-peat in snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom.
Unless, of course, her lobbying efforts pay off. Ledecka said she's going through her country's Olympic committee to reach out and see if one of the events can be switched. The Winter Games schedule was just recently released.
“It’s like someone has broken your dream,” the 29-year-old Ledecka said after a training run in Beaver Creek as she prepares for a World Cup downhill and super-G this weekend. “So please change it. Please, please, please. It’s my biggest dream to do both. I can create a great show for people.”
Ledecka is the rare athlete to do both winter sports at such a gold medal-winning level.
Nearly seven years ago, Ledecka was a surprise winner in the super-G at the Pyeongchang Games — from bib No. 26, no less. A week later, she captured gold in the parallel GS (PGS).
At the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, she defended her PGS crown along with finishing fifth in the super-G, 27th in the downhill and fourth in the Alpine combined.
To amend an Olympic schedule would not be unprecedented. Before the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the International Olympic Committee and the governing body for track and field accommodated a request from Allyson Felix to go for a 200-400 double. She earned a silver in the 400.
In 1996, the schedule was shifted so American sprinter Michael Johnson could run in the 200 and 400 at the Atlanta Games. He won gold in both.
“I would appreciate it,” said Ledecka, who started skiing at 2 years old and snowboarding three years later. “They’re fighting (for it) right now.”
The current schedule has snowboarding parallel giant slalom holding a qualifying round from 9 a.m. to 11 on Feb. 8 in Livigno, Italy. The final is set for 1 p.m. Meanwhile, the women's downhill is set to take place in Cortina at 11:30 a.m.
It's about a 4-hour drive between the two events.
For now, she's leaning toward snowboarding. Only because a few days later she could ski race in a super-G.
“I was quite sad about that fact,” Ledecka said of the conflict between events. "We'll see. It’s still quite far away.”
Ledecka has 88 World Cup starts in skiing, with 10 podium finishes and four wins. She has 63 World Cup starts in snowboarding, featuring 39 podium finishes and 25 wins.
“I don’t know how she does it,” said American ski racer Jacqueline Wiles, who dabbled in snowboarding as a kid. “It’s absolutely insane.”
Ledecka enjoys both sports for different reasons. In skiing, it's for the speed. For snowboarding, it's the execution of a turn.
It's not always easy splitting her time between the two sports, fitting in training around events. She won a PGS race on Nov. 30 in China before arriving in Beaver Creek.
After this, it's off to St. Moritz, Switzerland, for more ski racing. She's currently traveling with eight snowboards and 20 pairs of skis.
“You cannot believe how stacked the ski room is right now,” Ledecka cracked. “I really admire my tech guy and how he's handling it all. I’m very happy to have my team help me do this, my dream, of going from the snowboard World Cup to the ski World Cup. I'm having a lot of fun.”
Notes: Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland had the fastest time in the second training run Thursday. Italians racers Sofia Goggia and Federica Brignone were both within a second. ... Lindsey Vonn is not expected to forerun before the third and final training session Friday. The 40-year-old Vonn still plans on testing out the course before this weekend's races on the Birds of Prey course.
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Pat Graham, The Associated Press
