Brazilian wins South America's first winter gold

Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen held his nerve to win the men’s Alpine skiing giant slalom in Bormio on Feb 14 for South America’s first-ever gold in the Winter Olympics.

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The 25-year-old Norway-born skier, who was fastest in the first leg, was composure personified in the second to win in an aggregate time of 2min 25.00sec.

Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, already a winner of team combined silver and super-G bronze, claimed a second silver, at 0.58sec behind, having been the only skier to have got within a second of the Brazilian in the opening run.

Odermatt’s teammate Loic Meillard rounded out the podium, 1.17sec adrift of Braathen.

The victory for Braathen, who switched allegiance to his mother’s homeland of Brazil in 2024 after falling out with the Norwegian ski federation, meant a first-ever Winter Olympic medal of any colour for an athlete representing Latin America.

“I was skiing completely according to my intuition and my heart today, and that’s what enabled me to become an Olympic champ,” said Braathen, whose other interests include deejaying and fashion.