PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu made history by becoming the first figure skater in 66 years to win back-to-back Olympic men's singles gold, while snowboarder Ester Ledecka shockingly claimed women's super-G title at PyeongChang Olympics on Saturday.
Hanyu, 23, won the title with 317.85 points, beating compatriot Shoma Uno and multiple world champion Javier Fernandez of Spain to the second and third on 306.90 and 305.24 respectively. Hanyu's gold was Japan's first in PyeongChang and also the 1,000th gold medal since the Winter Games began in 1924.
"I have no words right now. I am overwhelmed. I am just happy with my performance and my hard training and everything," said a teary Hanyu.
"This is the best day of my skating life. My tears were from my heart. I can find one word and that is happy," he added.
Jin Boyang set China's best result in the event as the fourth finisher.
"I was very nervous at first, because in the six minutes warm-up I could not do any element clean and I fell. My legs were shaky. But when I went out to compete, I was not so nervous anymore and I tried my best," Jin said.
"It's great to break the Olympic record of my country. I trained so hard over the past four years, to an extent I almost couldn't bear. I cherished every competition, and I need to focus on the details," said Jin.
"I'm young and I have a lot of potentials. I will work hard through the next four years to stand on the podium at the next Olympics in Beijing," the 20-year-old added.
In a major shock of the Alpine skiing events, Ledecka of Czech Republic, the first athlete to compete in two different sports at a Winter Olympics, shockingly won women's super-G title.
Ledecka finished her race in a leading time of 1 minute and 21.11 seconds. American great Lindsey Vonn sat sixth in the competition delayed by one hour due to strong wind.
"I was probably the only snowboarder on site. All the other girls didn't risk a lot. There must be a lot of pressure on them. I was just trying to do my best run," said Ledecka, who also competed in snowboard parallel giant slalom in PyeongChang.
"I am so surprised about all of it. I'm really trying to win and do a good run every time but I didn't really realize that this really can happen," added the snowboard parallel world champion.
Defending champion Anna Veith of Austria was second, just one hundredth of a second behind Ledecka. The third position went to Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein.
In Alpensia Biathlon Center, Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia won personal third gold medal with victory in women's 12.5km mass start. Kuzmina has equalled for the most gold medals in Summer and Winter Games representing Slovakia, after she clocked a match-best 35 minutes and 23 seconds with just one penalty in shooting.
In Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Center, Norway won the women's 4x5-kilometer relay, which is the country's seventh gold medal in PyeongChang.
In short track speed skating, Choi Minjeong of South Korea won the women's 1,500 meters while Samuel Girard of Canada won the men's 1,000-meter gold. Elsewhere, Britain's Lizzy Yarnold defended the women's skeleton title, her country's first gold medal at PyeongChang.
Germany now leads the medals table on nine golds, followed by Norway in second place on seven golds.
