Brazilian skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wins South America’s first-ever Winter Olympics medal

Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen swiped away the competition with a powerful final run in the Olympic giant slalom on Saturday, winning gold and earning South America’s first-ever medal at a Winter Games. 

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 — No. 1 — he fell to the snow before starting to scream.

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’s teammate, Loic Meillard, earned the bronze medal.

The Norwegian-born Pinheiro Braathen is the fun-loving, samba-dancing skier who’s ready to get this party started. On the back of his helmet, he has in big letters “Vamos Dancar” — “Let’s Dance.” He represented Norway until October 2023, when he abruptly retired from the sport.

In March 2024, he announced he would return to the alpine skiing circuit, representing Brazil — his mother’s native country and where he spent much of his youth.

He’s already accomplished plenty of “firsts” 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. Now, the first Brazilian gold medalist.

Another Brazilian athlete could earn another medal on Saturday. Nicole Rocha Silveira, who was born on the southern tip of Brazil and moved to Canada around age 7, is ranked ninth in the world in women’s skeleton and is among the favorites in that event.

Pinheiro Braathen and Silveira each carried the Brazilian flag at different sites during the Opening Ceremony last week.