\u201cI\u2019ve tried over and over again to put words into what it is that I\u2019m feeling,\u201d Pinheiro Braathen said. \u201cBut it\u2019s simply impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave his country another reason to celebrate even if it already just so happened to be Carnival season. The fun-loving, samba-dancing skier had the perfect helmet for the occasion, too, stenciling on the back \u201cVamos Dancar\u201d \u2014 \u201cLet\u2019s Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He did a rhythmic number in the first run that gave him a 0.95-second edge.<\/p>\n
With snow falling and fog settling in on the final run, 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 just stared. When it finally sank in, he fell to the snow before starting to scream.<\/p>\n
He finished in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 25 seconds to beat Swiss racer Marco Odermatt,\u00a0the defending Olympic champion, by 0.58 seconds. Odermatt\u2019s teammate, Loic Meillard, earned bronze.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a moment that\u2019s hard to grasp, even though it\u2019s crystal clear that you are officially the Olympic champion,\u201d Pinheiro Braathen explained. \u201cEven though I had such faith and I knew that this was written for me, it is still so incredible to live that dream turned reality. I couldn\u2019t quite grasp it.\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 before the 2023 season, only to\u00a0return a year later representing Brazil.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s already accomplished plenty of firsts with his new country: First Brazilian Alpine racer to finish on a World Cup podium last year and first World Cup win for the country this season.<\/p>\n
Now, he\u2019s the first Olympian from the South American continent to bring home a winter medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe emotions that I\u2019m feeling right now is an internal sun inside of me that is shining so, so bright and toward so many people,\u201d he said. \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
![\"Talk](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/YRD6P3FEK5QM2NPVBIEVL2NEN4.jpg\")
Talk about one giant leap … as Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen takes flight atop the podium to celebrate his historic victory in Saturday’s giant slalom, alongside silver medalist Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt (left) and third placed Loic Meillard of Switzerland.John Locher\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why he got so choked up hearing his nation\u2019s anthem on the podium. Brazil has taken part of every edition of the Winter Olympics since 1992. The country\u2019s best result until Pinheiro Braathen\u2019s gold medal was ninth place in women\u2019s snowboarding in 2006 with Isabel Clark.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing 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 Pinheiro Braathen said.<\/p>\n
He gave a shoutout to the Norwegian Ski Federation as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have any hate or bad feelings about what has happened,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just thankful, because it\u2019s our differences in our perspectives that have forced me to confront myself to follow my own dream. And it was that heart, and that strength, that brought me to the top of the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was another medal for Odermatt at the Milan Cortina Games. He also won silver in the team combined event, where he partnered with Meillard, and bronze in the super-G.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree medals,\u201d Odermatt said, \u201cis amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Odermatt was asked about seeing a Brazilian on top of the Olympic podium and its significance: \u201cFor me, it doesn\u2019t represent anything. He did his whole education in Norway. He just switched to Brazil now, so I don\u2019t care about this. But he\u2019s an amazing skier, and I have respect for him as an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atle Lie McGrath of Norway finished fifth. He has known Pinheiro Braathen since they began racing together as kids for their ski club.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shared a nice hug over there,\u201d said McGrath, who wore a black armband in tribute to his late grandfather. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Gold](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/RIFH4V35BM6IZ5KJLASZXVDTQQ.jpg\")
Gold medalist Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wasn’t the only one overcome by emotion, as fans of the Brazilian skier were jubilant at the Brazil House in Milan after his golden giant slalom run. Antonio Calanni\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
In Milan, Pinheiro Braathen\u2019s 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
For Pinheiro Braathen, it\u2019s hard for him to imagine how he will be perceived now that he\u2019s won gold for Brazil. He\u2019s eager to find out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many comments I\u2019ve read through from the day I started representing Brazil until becoming an Olympic champion today that has been along the lines of, \u2018I have no idea of what\u2019s going on, but let\u2019s go Brazil. Let\u2019s go Lucas,\u2019\u201d Pinheiro Braathen recounted. \u201cI think it\u2019s that unconditional love and support from the Brazilians, even though we\u2019re still in this journey of introducing ski racing to Brazil, that I really brought with me today and allowed me to ski as fast as I did.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019ve tried over and over again to put words into what it is that I\u2019m feeling,\u201d Pinheiro Braathen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123989,143881,2323,85,46,132992,143433,56866,6661,143274,105,143882,143883,139243,143884],"class_list":{"0":"post-292244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","9":"tag-2026-winter-olympic-games","10":"tag-events","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-milan-cortina-winter-olympics","14":"tag-milan-cortina-olympics","15":"tag-olympic-games","16":"tag-olympics","17":"tag-olympics-2026","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-winter-games","20":"tag-winter-olympic-games","21":"tag-winter-olympics-2026","22":"tag-xxv-olympiad"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}