LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) \u2014 The fans from the Czech Republic clanged cowbells and waved their red-white-and-blue tricolor for a sun-splashed Olympic victory they simply knew was coming. <\/p>\n
Then, they all looked down and checked their programs.<\/p>\n
Their favorite speed racer, Ester Ledecka, her quest for a third straight title<\/a> vanquished early, was a mere spectator Sunday when another Czech, eight years younger and without a single big-time win in her career, zoomed across the line to keep the gold medal in snowboarding\u2019s parallel giant slalom safely in the republic.<\/p>\n Her name: Zuzana Maderova.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe it now,\u201d the 22-year-old said, \u201cbut I\u2019m an Olympic champion.\u201d<\/p>\n A few hours after Lindsey Vonn wiped out<\/a> on an Alpine downhill course a mountain range away in Cortina D\u2019Ampezzo, Ledecka \u2014 and Maderova \u2014 reinforced the obvious to the Winter Olympic<\/a> world: There are no sure things when these racers hit the slippery ice and snow.<\/p>\n \u201cSuddenly, I made a mistake in the quarterfinals,\u201d said Ledecka, who skittered and put her hand down at the sixth gate in the quarterfinal, costing her precious time and a chance at another title. \u201cI did my best. It\u2019s what can happen in this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Her country\u2019s president, Petr Pavel, came to Livigno expecting to celebrate a win. It was a good bet. Ledecka hadn\u2019t lost a PGS race in nearly two years or missed a podium in five.<\/p>\n But after the second round (quarterfinals) of head-to-head action in a single-elimination format, she was only a bystander.<\/p>\n Her opponent, Sabine Payer of Austria, won the quarterfinal by 0.06 seconds.<\/p>\n Asked what she would\u2019ve done differently, Ledecka focused on her form.<\/p>\n \u201cI would do the toe side much better. I would probably put my inner shoulder up and do it better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ledecka first shocked the Olympic world eight years ago when she became the first athlete to win gold medals in both a skiing and a snowboarding event. Even she didn\u2019t quite believe she had won the ski race. Nobody was surprised about the snowboarding.<\/p>\n She has been splitting time ever since \u2014 she\u2019ll head to Cortina for a super-G race next Thursday. But in deciphering the reasons for this shocking loss, her coach, Justin Reiter, said her nine ski races versus one in snowboarding in the leadup to Milan Cortina wasn\u2019t that big a factor.<\/p>\n \u201cI take the responsibility there, maybe not being as prepared as we could\u2019ve been,\u201d he told The Associated Press. \u201cAdapting her training a little bit. … She has so much more in the tank. She can ride so much faster. But she didn\u2019t gear up. She geared down.\u201d<\/p>\n There were no such regrets from Maderova, and certainly not from Payer, who raced her way to the silver medal. She lost to Maderova by 0.83 seconds in the final, but will go down as the woman who took down this sport\u2019s GOAT. <\/p>\n \u201cThe win against Ester, I think it was not expected, I would say,\u201d Payer said. \u201cI knew I had to risk everything and go all-in. Mistakes can happen. I think she might have helped me a bit. I don\u2019t know how her run was, but I\u2019m really, really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Ledecka\u2019s loss now gives Austria\u2019s Anna Gasser a chance to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic titles. Gasser takes the hill in big air qualifying later Sunday. Also trying for a three-peat is Chloe Kim<\/a>. Her halfpipe contest starts Wednesday.<\/p>\n Austrian Benjamin Karl gets a repeat, and PGS awaits to hear its future<\/p>\n The only repeat on this day belonged to Austria\u2019s Benjamin Karl, who won his second straight title, then celebrated by stripping off his shirt, doing a huge weightlifter flex, then falling, bare-chested, into the snow.<\/p>\n The 40-year-old Karl, who also has a silver and a bronze in his career, said that belly flop was a tribute to alpine skiing legend Hermann Maier. It was pure joy to cool off with the mountain sun beating down.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have four runs, it was really long, we are sweating full gas \u2014 it\u2019s like you\u2019re coming out from the sauna,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to lay longer in the snow to cool down.\u201d<\/p>\n The day also included an all-Italian race for third in the women\u2019s bracket; Lucia Dalmasso won it by 0.11 seconds and was weeping near the finish line. At the time, it marked Italy\u2019s sixth medal of the games and put the home country at the top of the medals table<\/a>.<\/p>\n The men\u2019s third-place race was a photo finish that put Bulgaria into the medal column thanks to Tervel Zamfirov\u2019s lean at the line. <\/p>\n All in all, it was a wild, unpredictable day at the snow park for PGS, a sport whose Olympic future is under review<\/a>, leaving Ledecka, 30, unsure of whether she\u2019ll get another chance for that third gold in 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone will give a (expletive) about what the athletes think, to be very honest,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s always like that with the Olympic committees. I wish this time will be different and they\u2019ll go see how much crowd we brought in, how excited everyone was, how amazing this race was and think, \u2018Oh, why would we cancel this race?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n