Ledecka to ‘bombard’ Coventry over Olympic programme: report

Three-time Olympic champion Ester Ledecka said Thursday she would “bombard” new International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry over the 2026 Winter Olympic Games’ programme, which currently prevents her from competing in two different events.

The 29-year-old Czech won the Alpine skiing Super-G at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018.

A week later, she won the snowboarding parallel giant slalom at the same Games. 

This year, she claimed the downhill bronze medal at the Alpine skiing world championships in February and the world title in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom on Thursday.

The schedule of the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy will prevent her from competing in both downhill and the parallel giant slalom as the events are scheduled for the same day.

“I hope it will be a nudge for the IOC to rethink the Olympic programme for next year and give me a chance to compete in both events,” Ledecka told Czech media after her snowboarding triumph at Engadin, Switzerland on Thursday.

“It would mean a lot to me and I think it would be great not only for the Czech Republic, but for sport in general,” added Ledecka, who also won the snowboarding parallel giant slalom at Beijing 2022.

Ledecka had earlier lodged an appeal with the IOC in an effort to shift the schedule, but to no avail so far.

She said she would now go straight to IOC head Coventry, elected on Thursday, with her rescheduling plea.

“Yeah, we’ll call her at once. As soon as she sits down on the throne, we will write her an e-mail and bombard her,” Ledecka chuckled.

“We’ll see where we’ll get. We are a small country, and although we have fantastic athletes, we can’t exert such pressure as the big Alpine superpowers.

“In any case, I’m not losing hope. I will keep fighting,” Ledecka said in the interview published by the IDNES news site.