Lucas Pinheiro Braathen leads giant slalom opener in Soelden

Brazilian Olympic champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen led the opening run of the season-opening World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, on Sunday and was poised to extend his winning streak in the discipline to four races. The Norwegian-born Pinheiro Braathen stood 0.24 seconds ahead of Olympic slalom champion Loic Meillard and 0.49 ahead of Stefan Brennsteiner. Five-time defending overall champion Marco Odermatt stood fourth, 0.55 behind, and Atle Lie McGrath was fifth, 0.64 behind. Strong winds on the upper portion of the Rettenbach glacier forced organizers to shorten the course, and the race was held in difficult conditions.

Context and stakes

Pinheiro Braathen earned South America its first medal at a Winter Olympics at last season’s Milan Cortina Games. He is unbeaten in giant slalom since that Olympic breakthrough and won the final two World Cup GS races last season to seal the season-long discipline title. He switched nationalities two years ago to represent his mother’s home country. His slalom victory in Levi, Finland, nearly a year ago was Brazil’s first World Cup victory in Alpine skiing. Brazil has won just one Winter Olympic medal among its total of 171 Olympic medals.

After his run, Pinheiro Braathen blew a kiss to the crowd, which featured a small group of spectators waving Brazilian flags. Austria’s Marco Schwarz skis off course during the race. On Saturday, Paula Moltzan claimed her first career World Cup victory in the women’s opener, while Mikaela Shiffrin finished seventh. The second run will decide the winner and whether Pinheiro Braathen extends his streak.

Sources

• mcalesternews.com

• bozemandailychronicle.com

• Photo: Dispe, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)