Ledecka becomes first to win gold in two sports in single Winter Olympics

PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic won the snowboard women's parallel giant slalom title and became the first person to win gold in two sports at a single Winter Olympics at the PyeongChang Games on Saturday.

Having come from a stunning win in the Alpine skiing super-G event, the wonderwoman dominated the two-run big final to claim the victory.

Ledecka said: "Fantastic, really, it was a great day. I enjoyed every run and I'm very happy to be here and stand on the highest place."

"As long as I have fun with both I will probably do both and we'll see what happens. It was quite long because I was here from the start because the skiing was the first and I went GS and super-G and I switched to snowboard," Ledecka added.

Chinese skier Zang Ruxin and Gong Naiying settled for the 22nd and 26th places respectively, while Xu Xiaoxiao didn't finish her ride in the qualification run.

Elsewhere, Iivo Niskanen captured Finland's first gold of the Games as he bagged the gold medal of men's cross-country 50km mass start classic. Niskanen finished the most demanding race with 2 hours, 8 minutes and 22.1 seconds.

"It was a big dream," commented Niskanen following his victory.

Team USA got its ninth gold on the penultimate day of the Games as the men's curling team won over Sweden in the final while Norway's bronze medal in the Alpine skiing team event helped the country reach a record 38 medals at a single Winter Olympics.

In speed skating, Nana Takagi of Japan made history by becoming the first athlete to win the newest event of mass start, in the women's division, while in the men's mass start, the 2016 world champion Lee Seung-Hoon of South Korea triumphed with a steady pace.

With just one day out, Norway leads the medals table on 13 golds while China, next host of the Winter Olympics, is 16th with one gold. Enditem