{"id":589909,"date":"2026-02-14T17:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T17:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/589909\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T17:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T17:51:11","slug":"brazils-lucas-pinheiro-braathen-wins-giant-slalom-earns-south-americas-1st-medal-at-winter-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/589909\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil\u2019s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wins giant slalom, earns South America\u2019s 1st medal at Winter Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

BORMIO, Italy (AP) \u2014 Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen turned in a powerful final run to win the Olympic giant slalom Saturday and earn South America\u2019s first medal<\/a> at a Winter Games.<\/p>\n

With snow falling and fog settling in, the 25-year-old Pinheiro Braathen remained cool and relaxed as he navigated his way through the technical Stelvio course. After seeing his place \u2014 No. 1 \u2014 he fell to the snow before starting to scream.<\/p>\n

He finished in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 25 seconds. He beat Swiss racer Marco Odermatt, the defending Olympic champion, by 0.58 seconds. Odermatt\u2019s teammate, Loic Meillard, earned bronze.<\/p>\n

Pinheiro Braathen is the fun-loving, samba-dancing skier who\u2019s ready to get this party started. On the back of his helmet, he has in big letters \u201cVamos Dancar\u201d \u2014 \u201cLet\u2019s Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fittingly enough, it\u2019s Carnival season, too, a festival of parades, masquerades and partying made famous in places such as Brazil. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty to celebrate because, \u201cBrazil is an Olympic champion in Alpine skiing,\u201d said Pinheiro Braathen, who opened up a massive 0.95-second advantage after the opening run, thanks to being the first racer on the course. \u201cI\u2019ve tried over and over again to put words into what it is that I\u2019m feeling but it\u2019s simply impossible.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pinheiro Braathen comes from a family where his mother is Brazilian and his father is Norwegian. He started racing for Norway until abruptly retiring<\/a> before the 2023 season, only to return a year later representing Brazil<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s already accomplished plenty of \u201cfirsts\u201d with his new country: First Brazilian Alpine racer to finish on a World Cup podium last year and first ever World Cup win for the country this season. <\/p>\n

Now, first Brazilian gold medalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emotions that I\u2019m feeling right now is an internal sun inside of me that is that is shining so, so bright and toward so many people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is the very light that brought me the power to be the fastest in the world today and to become an Olympic champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was skiing with my heart, and when you ski the way you are, anything is possible. The only thing that matters to me is that I remain who I am. I am a Brazilian skier who became an Olympic champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why he got so choked up hearing his nation\u2019s anthem on the podium.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing about today where I am in a cognitive state whatsoever,\u201d Pinheiro Braathen said. \u201cHaving achieved this gold medal and hearing the national anthem ring over the stadium, which I\u2019ve experienced so many times as a fan of the Brazilian football team \u2014 it\u2019s where I grew my love for sports. Being the reason that I get to hear and share that song in a stadium in the middle of mountains, because of a Winter Olympic gold medal for these colors, I\u2019m beyond proud.\u201d <\/p>\n

In Milan, his fans, decked out in green and yellow, crowded into \u201cCasa Brasil.\u201d They cheered for the entirety of his run, screaming and jumping to their feet once he finished. The sound system blared \u201cWe Are The Champions\u201d before playing samba-infused songs for everyone to dance to.<\/p>\n

He remains a popular figure, with one spectator wearing a \u201cLucas Fan Club\u201d T-shirt at the Brazil House, while another clutched a sign declaring \u201cI\u2019m a fan of Lucas.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva celebrated his country\u2019s first ever Winter Olympics medal on his social media channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis unprecedented result shows Brazilian sport has no limits. It is the reflection of talent, dedication and continuous work to strengthen sport in every dimension,\u201d Lula said. \u201cCongratulations to Lucas Pinheiro and all the team involved in this historic achievement, which inspires new generations and widens the horizon for Brazilian sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another medal at the Milan Cortina Games for the 28-year-old Odermatt. He added this to the silver in the team event, where he partnered with Meillard, and bronze in the super-G. <\/p>\n

\u201cThree medals,\u201d Odermatt said, \u201cis amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atle Lie McGrath of Norway wore a black armband in remembrance of his grandfather, who died on the day of the opening ceremony. He finished fifth.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press Writers Stefanie Dazio in Milan and Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed to this report<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP skiing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/alpine-skiing<\/a> and AP Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BORMIO, Italy (AP) \u2014 Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen turned in a powerful final run to win…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":589910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[224667,191963,245978,4214,1613,51,1612,255131,4215,248984,50,44831,235115,4217,62,52,75618],"class_list":["post-589909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","tag-2026-winter-olympics","tag-alpine-skiing","tag-brazil","tag-central-america","tag-headlines","tag-latin-america","tag-lucas-pinheiro-braathen","tag-luiz-incio-lula-da-silva","tag-marco-odermatt","tag-news","tag-olympic-games","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-south-america","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-winter-olympic-games"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116070258600214204","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}