Skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen is very close to making history this Saturday (14) by winning Brazil’s first medal in an edition of the Winter Olympic Games.
A Norwegian naturalized Brazilian, Braathen led the giant slalom event in alpine skiing, held in the Bormio region, in northern Italy, and is very close to confirming gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Chosen by draw as the first athlete in the heat to descend the snow-covered mountain, Braathen achieved the best time on the first descent, clocking 1min13s92. With the advantage, he returned to the second and final descent and clocked 1min11s08, reaching the best combined time among all competitors of 2min25s.
The second best time was by Swiss Marco Odermatt, Olympic champion in Beijing-2022 and one of the favorites, with 2min25s58. Also from Switzerland, Loic Meillard completed the podium, with 2min26s17.
The athletes who qualified below the 30 best in the first descent are still doing the last lap, but with times well below those of the first placed and with very remote chances of reducing their times to the point of aiming for a medal, which makes gold practically certain for the Brazilian.
Brazil’s best result in an edition of the Winter Games so far was Isabel Clark’s ninth place in snowboard cross, in Turin 2006.
Born in Olso, the skier, son of a Norwegian father and Brazilian mother, began his career competing for Norway, when he became champion of the alpine skiing World Cup, in the slalom category — the main differences in relation to the giant slalom are the distance between the doors that athletes need to pass along the route and the speed they reach during the descent.
Just seven months after winning, he surprised the world by announcing his early retirement from the sport, due to disagreements with the Norwegian federation over the conduct of his career.
Shortly afterwards, in October 2024, he announced that he would start competing under Brazilian colors, quickly becoming the country’s biggest medal hope at the Winter Games.
In December 2024, he was responsible for winning the country’s first medal in an alpine skiing World Cup stage, taking silver in Beaver Creek, in the United States.
Since then, he has achieved nine more podiums in World Cup stages, including gold in the slalom in a race held in Finland in November last year.
Braathen returns to compete in the Winter Games on Monday (16), starting at 6 am (Brasília time), in the alpine skiing slalom event.
