Ledecka mulls ‘heliskiing’ to battle Olympic schedule

PARIS: Three-time Olympic champion Ester Ledecka said Tuesday she was contemplating all options including “heliskiing” to compete in two sports scheduled for the same day at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The 30-year-old Czech won the Alpine skiing super-G at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, before winning the snowboarding parallel giant slalom there a week later.

This year, she won the downhill bronze at the world ski championships and gold and silver at the world snowboarding championships shortly afterwards.

But the programme of the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy prevents her from competing in both downhill and the snowboarding parallel giant slalom as they are scheduled for the same day.

“I have sent letters to everyone,” Ledecka told reporters in Prague.

Johan Eliasch, the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), has so far proposed to change the times but not the days of the races, she added.

“Being a pilot, he even offered to take me from Cortina to Livigno by air, which is terribly cool,” Ledecka said.

“I first tried heliskiing last year so this might be the second experience,” she chuckled.

“But I don’t just want to take part but also to perform as best I can,” said Ledecka, who also won the snowboarding parallel giant slalom at the Beijing Games in 2022.

“And it’s tough when you do the downhill and an hour later they drop you off on a snowboard to do the qualification ride at once.”

Ledecka said she could learn to adapt to such fast changes in training but added that it normally takes her two to three days to adjust and perform.

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She said she would discuss a change in the programme with Eliasch and International Olympic Committee head Kirsty Coventry in a call “in the next two weeks”.

“So we’ll see how it goes. I’m still pushing for the snowboarding race to be moved,” Ledecka said, adding her rivals showed understanding.

“It’s also a good story for them. It can boost TV viewing rates if I’m the only athlete doing two sports at the Olympics,” said Ledecka.

She said the “heliskiing” option could also be thwarted by poor weather and no-fly zones over the Olympic venues, in which case she would have to take a six-hour car ride between Cortina and Livigno.

“Although we could make it in four hours if my mum is driving,” Ledecka added.