Lucas Pinheiro Braathen became the first South American to win a Winter Olympics medal when he won gold in the men’s giant slalom on Saturday.
Pinheiro Braathen, 25, ranks second in the world in the slalom and giant slalom. His total time was 2 minutes and 25 seconds, 0.58 seconds faster than the 2022 gold medalist Marco Odermatt, and won the event.
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The son of a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mother, Pinheiro Braathen began his career representing Norway, where he won five World Cup slalom and giant slalom races while finishing on the podium 12 times. He competed in the slalom and giant slalom events at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but did not complete either event.
Pinheiro Braathen suddenly retired in October 2023, returning to action for Brazil five months later. He has won one World Cup and now has 11 podium finishes since switching to Brazil ahead of the Cortina Olympics in Milan.
Pinheiro Braathen’s parents divorced when he was three, and he lived with his mother in Brazil. When he grew up, he moved to Norway to live with his father.
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Pinheiro Braathen said in 2024: “I came into contact with sports while playing in the streets of São Paulo with my neighbours, family and friends. I fell in love with sports there.” [Brazil] In a sport like the World Cup, that really means a lot. Being able to bring dance to the snow is what I’m after. “
Pinheiro Braathen, one of the Brazilian flag-bearers at the opening ceremony, is now making Olympic history and joins former Brazilian athletes such as Isadora Williams, who became the first Brazilian and South American to reach the women’s figure skating final at the 2018 Olympics; five-time Olympian cross-country skier Jaqueline Mourão; and bobsledder Eric Malleson.
“Norway taught me how to be an athlete and how to brave the cold,” Pinheiro Brasson told reporters in Milan last week. “Brazil taught me how to be myself.”
