Brazil Make History at Winter Olympics by Denying Swiss Podium Sweep in Skiing

In the history of the Winter Olympics, in more than a century, no South American nation has stood on the podium until Lucas Pinheiro Braathen. The 25-year-old danced his way to gold on the Stelvio course to become the first-ever Brazilian to medal at the Winter Olympics.

Braathen, born to a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mother, made his mark with incredible fashion, too. After a scintillating first run, Braathen had an early advantage in the men’s giant slalom against a strong Swiss team that had shown dominance on the slopes throughout the past week. Marco Odermatt set the pressure, giving his all in the final run, going ahead of Braathen, 29 in the skating order.

As the snow flurried on the slopes, Odermatt was mellifluous on the second run and set 2:25.58 for the Brazilian to beat. Braathen didn’t have the best start, a bit of a wobble in the middle, and almost went down before coming right back up with one of the best recoveries in the whole run, and finished in 2:25.00. As samba-infused music blared at the course, matched by the energy of his fans, Braathen had finished a century-long dream of a continent.

It was a Swiss sweep before Braathen took his run. Odermatt was followed by Loic Meillard, who was pushed down to a bronze. Thomas Tumler, who’s competing in his second Olympics, missed out on a bronze by 0.28, ranking fourth overall.

Braathen was born in Oslo before moving to Sao Paolo with his mother, where he was first introduced to sports. He later grew up in Norway, started skiing, and competed professionally for the country for till he age of 23, when he briefly retired from the sport after a falling out with the Norwegian ski federation over sponsorship rights.

On his return to the sport, he switched his allegiances to his mother’s nation. He has since become the first Brazilian to earn points for them in alpine skiing world cup with nine podium finishes across slalom and giant slalom. He also earned his first win in Levi last November.

Marco Odermatt’s campaign in Milan Cortina 2026 came to a frustrating end

Marco Odermatt, one of the best alpine skiers of the time, had a magical run in the Winter Olympics with three medals, but the gold remained elusive for the 2022 Beijing men’s giant slalom winner.

The 28-year-old started with a fourth-place finish in men’s downhill, punished by the scintillating time set by fellow countryman Franjo von Allmen and the Italian pair of Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris. As the defending world champion in three disciplines, as well as the overall champion, Odermatt was a top contender for golds in downhill, Super G, and giant slalom.

After the disappointing podium miss in downhill, he made his first podium with Loic Meillard in the newly introduced men’s combined in second place, alongside the Austrian pair of Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller.

In his third event, it was once again von Allmen who cruised to a gold as he settled for another bronze. In Super G, Odermatt finished 0.28 seconds behind Allmen and 0.15 seconds behind Uncle Sam’s Ryan Cochran-Siegle. Coming into the event where he won a gold four years ago, Odermatt had hoped to defend his title and finally win the gold that had eluded him throughout the past week.

Unfortunately, despite giving it all, it was Braathen’s day at the Stelvio slopes today. But the silver lining for Odermatt would be that he became the first Swiss alpine skier to medal four times at the Winter Olympics.

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