Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen makes history with giant slalom gold

BORMIO, Italy -- Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen made South American sporting history with a stunning Olympic giant slalom gold medal in a driving blizzard on Saturday.

No athlete from the continent had ever won a medal of any color at the Winter Games, but the 25-year-old put that right with two incredible runs down the Stelvio course to hold off Swiss great Marco Odermatt by 0.58 seconds.

"I'm not even able to grasp reality," said Pinheiro Braathen, who switched allegiance from Norway after briefly quitting the sport in 2023.

"I am just trying to get some sort of emotion here and translate it into words, though it's absolutely impossible."

Strains of the classic song "Mas Que Nada" rang out across the finish area as Pinheiro Braathen was serenaded by the Brazilians in the grandstand and wedged alongside the slope.

Down on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, too, the caipirinhas would surely be flowing for the soccer-mad country's latest, and most unlikely, sporting hero.

"This unprecedented result shows that Brazilian sport has no limits," Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva posted on X.

The skier was born to a Norwegian father and Brazilian mother. Once his parents divorced, he lived first with his mother in Brazil and later with his father in Norway.

Pinheiro Braathen has hardly emerged from nowhere.

He was the World Cup slalom champion in 2023 and is currently second in the overall standings behind Odermatt.

But no one envisioned the Brazilian opening a massive 0.95-second lead over Odermatt from bib No. 1 in a masterful first run that left his rivals scratching their heads and only seven of them within two seconds of him.

Barring a crash or an extraordinary Odermatt surge, it looked like nothing could deny him a history-making gold in the second as the weather closed in.

Odermatt, giant slalom champion in Beijing in 2022, duly cranked up the pressure with a searing second run to take the lead, leaving last man Pinheiro Braathen 54 gates from glory.

Pushing out of the start hut in his distinctive silver helmet, he leaked away some of his advantage with a few ragged turns, but with his eyes fixed on gold, the Brazilian avoided any calamities.

After crossing the line, Pinheiro Braathen collapsed to the snow before getting up and holding his skis aloft to the roaring grandstand.

He then sought out his father, Bjorn, who introduced him to the sport as a young boy, for an emotional embrace before breaking into his trademark samba celebration.

After climbing on the podium he punched the air as the Brazil anthem rang out for the first time ever at the Winter Olympics and the tears of joy began to flow.

Only three years ago, Pinheiro Braathen stunned those in his sport by quitting after being crowned World Cup champion in slalom that year following a fallout with the Norway federation, saying he could no longer express his vibrant personality.

Opening up in a documentary "Lucas Pinheiro Braathen: On My Terms", he said skiing was making him miserable.

But he rediscovered the joy after returning to Brazil in 2024, and this season became Brazil's first winner of a World Cup race.

All that is insignificant compared with what he achieved on Saturday, however, four years after failing to finish either of his events in his Olympic debut.

Pinheiro Braathen's victory also stopped a Swiss sweep after all three of the gold medals so far in the men's Alpine program had gone to Franjo von Allmen.

The Brazilian will have another shot at gold on Monday in the slalom.

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media