Bormio (Italy) (AFP) - Lucas Pinheiro Braathen not only gave his country and the region its first historic medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games this Saturday, but it was gold, by winning the giant slalom in alpine skiing.

First modification: 02/14/2026 - 14:47 Last modification: 02/14/2026 - 15:30

On the legendary Stelvio track in Bormio, this snow showman, born 25 years ago in Oslo and who since 2024 has represented the country of his Brazilian mother, dominated the race from start to finish, leading a podium completed by the Swiss Marco Odermatt (58 hundredths away), silver, and Loïc Meillard (1 second and 17 hundredths away), bronze.

From the beginning

Pinheiro Braathen was the first to start among the 81 competitors and already set a spectacular time, which put him at the top of the time sheet, from which top he saw how, one by one, the rest of the favorites were falling behind.

Odermatt finished behind him at the end of the first race, but already 95 hundredths of a second behind him, while the third, also Swiss Loïc Meillard, was already 1 second and 57 hundredths behind.

"Lucas has really taken advantage of his number (starting first) and has followed his plan perfectly. He has skied in an incredible way, it has been one of the greatest displays you can see in a first run," estimated the Norwegian Timon Haugan, who finished that first run almost three seconds behind the Brazilian's time.

Such relevant differences placed Pinheiro Braathen in an outstanding pole position to seek the gold medal and he did not waste it in the second race, managing his margin well.

Pulverizing history

Brazil, which did not debut in the Winter Olympic Games until Albertville 1992, had until now as its best result in the event the ninth place achieved by Isabel Clark in the snowboard cross in Turin 2006, precisely in the previous event held in Italy and in the Alps, a country and a mountain range that are confirmed as talismans for the South American giant.

For Latin America, the best historical result in a Winter Games dates back to the second edition, St Moritz 1928, when two Argentine bobsleigh teams were fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the individual category, Isabel Clark's ninth place was the best by a Latin American athlete, while in alpine skiing the most outstanding performance in the region had been an eleventh place by Chilean Thomas Grob in the 1998 Nagano combined.

All of this was far surpassed by Pinheiro Braathen, one of the most popular personalities on the ski circuit who combines his sporting work with work as an advertising model.

Two years as a Brazilian

Slalom balloon champion in the 2022-2023 World Cup season, the last one with Norway before a conflict motivated mainly by image rights made him go on to defend Brazil, Pinheiro Braathen was already facing these Games as world number 2 of the current season in that technical discipline.

Last November he had made history for Brazil by winning the slalom in Levi (Finland), which was the first victory for a Brazilian in an alpine skiing World Cup event.

This Saturday's spectacular gold also serves as personal revenge for him after his catastrophic experience in the previous Olympic event in Beijing 2022, when he was still defending Norway and could not finish in either the giant slalom or the slalom.

In Milan-Cortina, his harvest may increase on Monday, when he will compete in the slalom, where after this Saturday's success he will arrive launched and as the rival to beat.

Related keywords

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.