Her new serviceman Guntram “Tschunti” Mathis, a ski tech legend, sharpens skills tuning snowboards

Her return to skiing took painfully longer than anticipated, but Ester Ledecká says progress is being made and she is amped to return to alpine World Cup ski racing next season.

Ledecká, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic snowboard and alpine skiing gold medalist, underwent two surgeries to repair her left collarbone she broke in five places in a training accident last August. The 28-year-old Czech athlete hoped to be healthy, fit, and ready to compete this past season at both the skiing and snowboard World Championships in February. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Ledecká’s complex collarbone injury did not heal sufficiently, and her doctors deemed a second surgery necessary. She ultimately missed the entire World Cup ski season but made a late-season return to snowboard racing. Far from feeling 100 percent, Ledecká impressed, finishing second at a parallel giant slalom event on March 15, in Rogla, Slovenia. Three days later, she improved upon that with a parallel slalom victory in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

“I think I did a great job with the snowboarding, and I feel I’m on a good path with skiing also,” Ledecká. says.  “We have a lot of time now in front of us to slowly build into the real skiing, getting back to the downhills and to high speeds. 

“It is good that we go step-by-step now, first with free-riding, then GS and some super-G’s. We’ll see how it goes, but right now I’m very happy to be back on snow.”

Ledecká recently trained in Kaunertal, Austria, making slow but steady progress. After many years with Atomic, she is striving to regain her form and speed, now competing on Kästle skis. The three-time Olympian underwent surgeries in Innsbruck on August 15th and November 23rd. She only returned to on-snow training on February 17, with snowboard turns as her initial focus

“Right now, I’ve been back on skis after more than a half year,” she said. “Just free-riding so far, but with poles in front, which I’m very proud of.

“Soon, we will start with the gates as well, and I hope everything will go in the right direction. My runs are relatively painless right now, which I’m grateful for.

“I’m not afraid of going back to the gates now, and I think I’ll be able to smash it soon enough.”

Full speed ahead next season

The multi-talented Czech athlete is already looking forward to next season, although she’s  slightly disappointed that women’s speed events will no longer kick off in Lake Louise, Canada. The Canadian Rockies venue was the site of Ledecká’s first World Cup downhill victory in December 2019. Still, the three-time World Cup winner believes she can quickly return to challenging the fastest female speed skiers.

“I’ll do my best to be competitive, for sure. I have a great new team, new skis riding now on Kästle, and my great new tech guy, “Tschunti,” she said, referring to her veteran ski tech Guntram Mathis, who has previously tuned skis for Bode Miller and Alexis Pinturault.

Ledecká brought Mathis out of his comfort zone last month.

“I have a lot of trust in him and we even tried him out in snowboarding as well, which was a huge surprise for everyone,” Ledecká said about her ski tech. “I took him to my snowboard races and he really enjoyed it. He was so hyped and was like, ‘That was so awesome; the people are so great.’

“He made the boards amazing – they were sharp as hell. I cut myself like eight times. It was impossible to take the board withoutgloves. You would cut yourself and I was bleeding the whole week, but it was great to have him there,” Ledecká said, with a laugh.

Ledecká races independently of the Czech Ski Federation and is coached by Franz Gamper and Tomáš Bank. She plans on pursuing an aggressive season schedule again, juggling World Cup skiing and snowboard events.

The Czech athlete from Prague has amassed 21 World Cup snowboard wins, three in alpine ski racing and eight podiums. Ledecká’s best ski racing season came in 2021-22. She was third in the downhill standings.

The rigors of ski racing as compared to snowboarding

Ledecká compared the intricacies of ski racing versus parallel snowboard racing.

“With skiing, you just get ready for these two minutes, concentrate, and give it your all,” she said. “Don’t make any mistakes, and then after these two minutes, it’s done.

“With snowboarding, it’s a whole day – you have qualifications and you have to be good because it’s very important for the development of the race. Then you have a break and have to warm up again and get ready for the finals. Four runs and every run has to be perfect. One mistake and you are done. For me, mentally, I think it’s a little more exhausting than a ski race. 

“For sure, there is more pressure with the ski racing, though, because it is a little more dangerous and risky than the snowboarding,” Ledecká continued. “From that point of view, it’s a little more difficult mentally. On the other hand, with snowboarding and so many runs, it’s (more) exhausting.”

On the sponsor side, the PyeongChang 2018 double gold medalist remains a hot commodity. Ledecká recently agreed to a partnership with Bogner to become the face of the German sportswear brand’s Fire + Ice line.

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