Alpine skiing-Double Olympic champion Ledecka opts for Alpine worlds

History-making double Olympic gold medallist Ester Ledecka has opted to compete in next month's Alpine skiing world championships rather than the snowboarding version which clashes with it. At last year's Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea, the 23-year-old Czech pulled off the unprecedented achievement of gold in both the women's Alpine super-G and snowboard parallel giant slalom.

The Alpine world championships are in Are, Sweden, from Feb. 5-17 while the snowboard championships are being held in Utah from Feb. 1-10. "I was a bit more into going skiing, but I wasn't sure about it. But as the season developed, I felt that this is a good decision," she told the International Ski Federation (FIS) website on Sunday.

"I can't really explain it, but I just feel it. I like the hill in Åre, so I'm looking forward to it and I think it's going to be nice to race there. Then I'll go back to snowboarding." "Now it's more about skiing until the world championships. Maybe I will do some freeriding on the snowboard, but not racing. After Åre, we'll fly to Pyeongchang for the snowboard races there," she added.

Ledecka's best result in Alpine this season was eighth place in a World Cup downhill in the Italian resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo on Saturday and 11th in a super-G in Val Gardena last month. In snowboarding she won a parallel giant slalom in Cortina last month. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)