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Ledecká was enthusing in the finish area. "When I crossed the finishing line and I realised I had won the gold, I was immensely happy. I did not expect to win. I feel so lucky," Ledecká, who was fourth after the qualification round, expressed her immediate emotions. She met the Austrian, Christina Holzer in the third but last round and she beat her decisively in both heats, winning by 14.02 seconds. But the rest of the race proved to be quite dramatic. In the first quarter-final race, she defeated the Russian,  Natalia Soboleva by a mere 0.04 seconds! In the second heat, the Russian performed an aggressive and risky ride and fell on the course.

For Ledecká, the only thing that stood in the way of her entering the grand final, was the German, Cheyenne Loch, who was said to be a big favourite. The Czech representative lost the first round by only three hundredths of a second. In the second round, however, she gave an excellent performance, really put her heart into it and the flabbergasted German fell. Her graceful ride continued in the finals, where she confidently beat Tanja Bruggerov from Austria. Cheyenne Loch eventually ended up third.

Apart from her coach, Václav Chlíbka, Ledecká is accompanied at her races by her grandfather, Jan Klapáč - a legendary hockey player who won the silver and bronze medals at the Winter Olympics. When his golden granddaughter arrived in a cable car, he waited there to doff his cap to her. "He saluted me, mainly because I survived mentally," explained Ledecka. Her mother also watched the race and before every single race, she did not hesitate to put on skis and ride down the slope parallel to her.

The gold medallist had been greatly motivated to win. Before the race, her teammates made a bet: Should any of them win a medal in the competition, the athlete, Pavel Elsner would ski down the slope wearing just his shorts. “That was the greatest motivation for me. I told myself I had to muster all my strength as I wanted to see him half-naked,” Ester looked amused. Besides the euphoria over the gold medal, Ledecká also procured a striptease for the jubilant audience.

Italian teammates carried the winner, Luca Tresoldi, all the way up to the winners’ rostrum. “I’m the happiest person in the world. I really hoped I would win in Liberec,” said Tresoldi. The silver was secured by Sandro Butullo of Austria and the bronze by Russian Valery Kolegov, whose team crowed with delight over the medal as if it was gold.

Results - girls - find here.

Results - boys - find here.

Photos find here.