02/16/26 05:31:00
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02/16 05:29 CST Atle Lie McGrath of Norway leads 1st run of Olympic slalom,
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen falls
Atle Lie McGrath of Norway leads 1st run of Olympic slalom, Brazil's Lucas
Pinheiro Braathen falls
By PAT GRAHAM
AP Sports Writer
BORMIO, Italy (AP) --- Atle Lie McGrath of Norway grabbed the first-run lead in
the men's slalom Monday on a snowy and foggy day that saw Brazilian ski racer
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen fall, ending his bid for another Olympic gold.
Pinheiro Braathen was cruising along with a fast time when his ski went out
from under him. He slid down the mountain before getting back up. His Olympics
ended with a "DNF" --- did not finish.
Pinheiro Braathen made history by winning the giant slalom Saturday, becoming
the first athlete from South America to win a medal at a Winter Olympics.
His former teammate and good friend, McGrath, finished in a time of 56.14
seconds and leads Loic Meillard of Switzerland by 0.59 seconds. Fabio Gstrein
of Austria is third.
"Of course I'm conflicted. Oh man, this sport," Pinheiro Braathen said. "It
brings you up to the sky and it just slams you back into reality equally as
fast. That's exactly what makes it the art it is."
The heavy snow led to a tricky morning of racing. The competition featured 96
racers in the field, with many representing nontraditional ski nations. Of the
96 racers, there were 49 who didn't finish the course, two who were
disqualified and another who didn't start.
This is the final event of the men's Alpine program at the Milan Cortina Games.
The 25-year-old Pinheiro Braathen grew up racing with McGrath in Norway and
they were teammates on the national squad. Pinheiro Braathen switched to
represent Brazil, his mom's home country. The nation celebrated his gold medal,
which just so happened to coincide with Carnival.
McGrath is racing at these Olympics with a heavy heart. His grandfather died on
the day of the opening ceremony. He's wearing an armband as a tribute.
It was a ceremonial slalom run for AJ Ginnis of Greece. He said an ankle
surgery didn't heal properly and he couldn't compete the way he wanted to. This
was his farewell run.
"To be able to stand here today and just everything ski racing has given me in
life, a college degree, security, and most importantly friends and people that
will stay with me forever, it's just something that you could have told that to
a 10-year-old AJ and his parents and they would have never believed it," Ginnis
said.
Among the skiers in the field were Henri Rivers IV of Jamaica; Faiz Basha of
Singapore and Lasse Gaxiola of Mexico. Gaxiola's mom, Sarah Schleper, competed
in the super-G and giant slalom in Cortina.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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