Snowboarding 2018/Women's parallel giant slalom

Women's parallel giant slalom
General information
Sport	Snowboarding 2018
Date	24 February 2018
Competitors	31 athletes
Venue	Phoenix Snow Park
Previous medalists
Gold	Patrizia Kummer
Silver	Tomoka Takeuchi
Bronze	Alena Zavarzina
Conditions
Temperature	-1°C / 30.2°F
Length	595 metres
Height	155 metres
Forerunners
Forerunner	Hong Seung-yeong South Korea
Forerunner	Cho Wan-hee South Korea
Forerunner	Shin Seok-jin South Korea
Forerunner	Kwon Yong-hwi South Korea
Medalists
	Ester Ledecka
	Selina Joerg
	Ramona Theresia Hofmeister

The women's parallel giant slalom of Snowboarding 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 24 February 2018 in the Phoenix Snow Park. With 31 athletes competing, the event was won by Ester Ledecka from Czech Republic, with Selina Joerg from Germany taking the silver medal and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister from Germany taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of two separate phases. In the qualification phase, athletes run down both the red and the blue lane to ensure a certain ranking. The 16 competitors with the fastest combined time qualify for the knock-out phase. In this phase, competitors are matched based on ranking, and with a traditional knock-out system the winner is decided, with each winner advancing to the next round. The athlete who wins the final is the winner.

Preview

Thirty-one athletes qualified for the event, with Ester Ledecka as the big favorite as the reigning world champion. However, there were several other snowboarders who would be in line for a medal, including the defending Olympic champion Patrizia Kummer, the world number two Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, defending medalists Tomoka Takeuchi and Alena Zavarzina, and the winner of the discontinued parallel slalom in 2014 Julia Dujmovits. However, in such a dynamic event, where a single mistake could ruin the chances for a medal, there were several outsiders, including Ina Meschik, who finished fourth in 2014, and Claudia Riegler from Austria, and Selina Joerg, who finished fourth in 2010.

Summary

Qualification

The sixteen athletes with the fastest combined time of two runs would go to the next round, and after two runs, Ester Ledecka was sure of a place in the next round, over 1.2 seconds faster than the bronze medalist of four years before, Alena Zavarzina. Behind Zavarzina, three German snowboarders finished within 4 seconds of Ledecka, with Selina Joerg, Carolin Langenhorst, and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister. Defending champion Patrizia Kummer finished just inside the bubble, a hundredth of a second faster than Michelle Dekker, while defending silver medalist Tomoka Takeuchi finished sixth in the qualification. Claudia Riegler, a potential outsider, did not finish her first run.

Qualification Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Blue	Red	Time
1		Ester Ledecka	45.58	43.32	1:28.90
2		Alena Zavarzina	45.43	44.73	1:30.16
3		Selina Joerg	44.67	45.60	1:30.27
4		Carolin Langenhorst	45.02	46.56	1:31.58
5		Ramona Theresia Hofmeister	45.36	46.62	1:31.98
6		Tomoka Takeuchi	47.86	45.00	1:32.86
7		Julie Zogg	45.70	47.19	1:32.89
8		Daniela Ulbing	47.07	46.00	1:33.07
9		Milena Bykova	46.43	46.66	1:33.09
10		Aleksandra Krol	47.02	46.11	1:33.13
11		Julia Dujmovits	45.95	47.21	1:33.16
12		Ladina Jenny	46.96	46.23	1:33.19
13		Ina Meschik	46.21	47.02	1:33.23
14		Ekaterina Tudegesheva	47.44	45.98	1:33.42
15		Gloria Kotnik	48.00	45.52	1:33.52
16		Patrizia Kummer	47.00	46.59	1:33.59
17		Michelle Dekker	47.42	46.18	1:33.60
18		Nadya Ochner	48.00	45.80	1:33.80
19		Natalia Soboleva	47.78	46.15	1:33.93
20		Jeong Hae-rim	46.93	47.18	1:34.11
21		Anke Woehrer	47.83	46.87	1:34.70
22		Zang Ruxin	48.17	47.09	1:35.26
23		Stefanie Mueller	48.79	46.80	1:35.59
24		Weronika Biela	48.10	47.82	1:35.92
25		Shin Da-hae	49.13	46.91	1:36.04
26		Gong Naiying	48.63	47.73	1:36.36
27		Teodora Pentcheva	49.01	49.62	1:38.63
28		Annamari Dancha	1:00.12	46.52	1:46.64
29		Karolina Sztokfisz	47.13	DQ
-		Claudia Riegler	DNF
-		Xu Xiaoxiao		DQ

Round 1

The races in the first round pitched the 16 fastest qualifiers from the qualification round, starting with the fourth place from 2014 Ina Meschik against the fourth-fastest qualifier Carolin Langenhorst. Meschik had a very good start, taking a lead of almost half a second over Langenhorst, but this was completely negated at the second time control. In an incredibly tight last part of the race, Meschik managed to win with just two-hundredth of a second at the finish line. The second heat, between fifth seed Ramona Theresia Hofmeister and twelfth seed Ladina Jenny also looked close, with less than half a second separating the two at the second time control. However, Jenny slightly lost control after needing to catch up on Hofmeister and missed a gate. The third heat between the debutants Daniela Ulbing and Milena Bykova was a heat that included several small mistakes at the start from both athletes, but with Ulbing taking a small lead. Trailing by a quarter of a second, Bykova took a risk, but it didn't pay off, losing a bit more time on the finish line. Ulbing's opponent would be a tough one, with the current world champion Ester Ledecka being set against the reigning Olympic champion Patrizia Kummer. Ledecka took a small lead at the start, but Kummer tried to fight back. However, Ledecka just rode away at the flatter section of the course, winning almost half a second on that section, leaving Kummer too much difference to catch up on.

After the reigning Olympic champion had gone down the course, the fifth heat saw the reigning bronze medalist Alena Zavarzina, who qualified as second-fastest, against Gloria Kotnik. The latter took the lead by a tenth of a second but soon made a small mistake, allowing Zavarzina to catch up. Also losing her ideal line halfway through the course, Kotnik lost the lead to Zavarzina by almost half a second. However, in the last part of the race, the Slovenian came back very strong, just losing out on the next round by three-hundredth of a second. The sixth heat between Julie Zogg and Aleksandra Krol was won by the former, who made her difference at the flatter section of the course, where she won over half a second on her opponent. The penultimate heat would be another anticipated one, setting the reigning silver medalist Tomoka Takeuchi against the last Olympic champion in the parallel slalom in 2014 Julia Dujmovits. After her disqualification in the parallel giant slalom in 2014, Dujmovits took a small lead at the first time control, and retained an even smaller lead at the second time control. However, a small mistake at the very end cost Dujmovits the win, with the Japanese advancing to the quarterfinals, in which she would compete against Selina Joerg or Ekaterina Tudegesheva. Joerg took a small lead at the start of the race, of two-tenths of a second, but pulled away on the flatter section, leaving over half a second lead at the finish line.

Round 1 Results
	Result	Result
Carolin Langenhorst	+0.02	Q	Ina Meschik
Ramona Theresia Hofmeister	Q	DNF	Ladina Jenny
Daniela Ulbing	Q	+0.52	Milena Bykova
Ester Ledecka	Q	+0.71	Patrizia Kummer
Alena Zavarzina	Q	+0.03	Gloria Kotnik
Julie Zogg	Q	+0.70	Aleksandra Krol
Tomoka Takeuchi	Q	+0.17	Julia Dujmovits
Selina Joerg	Q	+0.65	Ekaterina Tudegesheva

Quarterfinals

The first quarterfinal was between fifth seed Ramona Theresia Hofmeister against the only seed outside of the eight fastest qualifiers to advance to the quarterfinals Ina Meschik. Hofmeister had a flying start, taking a lead of almost three-quarters of a second over Meschik at the first time control, and this lead was kept until the finish line. The opponent of Hofmeister in the semifinal would come out of the second quarterfinal between Daniela Ulbing and the reigning world champion Ester Ledecka. Ledecka took the lead of about three-tenths of a second after the start against the youngster, and this lead was extended throughout the race, finishing with a small second different at the end.

In the third quarterfinal, Alena Zavarzina against Julie Zogg, this difference at the finish line was even bigger, but this was due to a mistake of Zogg halfway through the race, taking a wide turn around a gate. The last quarterfinal set the defending silver medalist Tomoka Takeuchi against third seed Selina Joerg. Joerg took a lead of almost half a second at the first time control, and this was extended to almost a second at the second time control. However, just like in the first round, Takeuchi came back, but against Joerg, it was just too late.

Quarterfinals Results
	Result	Result
Ramona Theresia Hofmeister	Q	+0.78	Ina Meschik
Ester Ledecka	Q	+0.97	Daniela Ulbing
Alena Zavarzina	Q	+1.88	Julie Zogg
Selina Joerg	Q	+0.62	Tomoka Takeuchi

Semifinals

The semifinals saw three of the four fastest snowboarders in the qualification round against each other, including the favorite Ester Ledecka and the defending bronze medalist Alena Zavarzina. As the first semifinal between favorite Ledecka and fifth seed Ramona Theresia Hofmeister ended with the latter crashing despite being in front, the favorite for gold Ledecka would advance through to the final. The second semifinal had second seed Alena Zavarzina against third seed Selina Joerg. However, after only a few gates, Zavarzina lost control and missed several gates, leaving the win to Joerg, who would win her first international honour.

Semifinals Results
	Result	Result
Ester Ledecka	Q	DNF	Ramona Theresia Hofmeister
Alena Zavarzina	DNF	Q	Selina Joerg

Finals

The small final between Alena Zavarzina and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister and the winner would win the bronze medal, just as Zavarzina had done four years before. Hofmeister took the lead at the start of the race, after Zavarzina took the outer bend at one of the first gates. Having to take some risks, Zavarzina crashed halfway through the course, for the second time in two races, losing her chances to defend her medal, which she had to leave to Hofmeister.

Small Final
	Result	Result
Alena Zavarzina	+4.07		Ramona Theresia Hofmeister

The big final was set between favorite Ester Ledecka and Selina Joerg. Ledecka, who was in pole position to become the first athlete to win gold medals in different sports at the same edition of the Winter Olympic Games, took a small lead right from the start of 0.15 seconds at the first time control, and despite Joerg trying to catch up, this lead was extended to almost three-tenths of a second at the second time control. At the finish line, this constant lead was extended once again, with Ledecka taking her second gold medal at the Olympic Games, leaving Joerg with silver.

Big Final
	Result	Result
Ester Ledecka		+0.46	Selina Joerg

Results

Ester Ledecka became the first athlete to win gold medals in two different sports at the same Winter Olympic Games, after winning the super-G event. Selina Joerg and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister won their first Olympic medals, though the former had finished just outside of the podium in 2010. Defending medalists of 2014 Alena Zavarzina and Tomoka Takeuchi finished just outside of the podium on 4th and 5th place.

Result	Athlete	Nationality
	Ester Ledecka	Czech Republic
	Selina Joerg	Germany
	Ramona Theresia Hofmeister	Germany
4	Alena Zavarzina	Olympic Athletes from Russia
5	Tomoka Takeuchi	Japan
6	Julie Zogg	Switzerland
7	Daniela Ulbing	Austria
8	Ina Meschik	Austria
9	Carolin Langenhorst	Germany
10	Milena Bykova	Olympic Athletes from Russia
11	Aleksandra Krol	Poland
12	Julia Dujmovits	Austria
13	Ladina Jenny	Switzerland
14	Ekaterina Tudegesheva	Olympic Athletes from Russia
15	Gloria Kotnik	Slovenia
16	Patrizia Kummer	Switzerland
17	Michelle Dekker	Netherlands
18	Nadya Ochner	Italy
19	Natalia Soboleva	Olympic Athletes from Russia
20	Jeong Hae-rim	South Korea
21	Anke Woehrer	Germany
22	Zang Ruxin	China
23	Stefanie Mueller	Switzerland
24	Weronika Biela	Poland
25	Shin Da-hae	South Korea
26	Gong Naiying	China
27	Teodora Pentcheva	Bulgaria
28	Annamari Danchi	Ukraine
29	Karolina Sztokfisz	Poland
30	Claudia Riegler	Austria
31	Xi Xiaoxiao	China