SCHLADMING, Austria (AP) — Loic Meillard has won the last men’s World Cup giant slalom before the Olympics, denying Lucas Pinheiro Braathen what would have been his second victory for Brazil.
Pinheiro Braathen narrowly led Meillard after Tuesday's opening run but couldn’t hold on to his advantage after the Swiss skier posted the second-fastest time in the final run.
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Switzerland's Loic Meillard, centre, winner of alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, poses with second placed Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, left, and third placed France's Alban Elezi Cannaferina, in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard celebrates with second placed Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, back to camera, after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard, centre, winner of alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, poses with second placed Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, left, and third placed France's Alban Elezi Cannaferina, in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Last November, Pinheiro Braathen won a slalom in Finland to give Brazil its maiden victory in a top-level ski race.
Meillard won Tuesday's race under the floodlights on the icy Planai course by 0.73 seconds for his second World Cup victory of the season and ninth overall.
“It's always been a slope that I liked. And good memories from the first victory in GS and to win again here is amazing,” said Meillard, who also won the event three years ago.
“I know the form is getting better and better, I would say, in the last few weeks," said the Swiss skier, whose best Olympic result is fifth from the 2022 slalom.
Pinheiro Braathen was fastest in the opening run to prove again he is an Olympic medal contender for Brazil not just in slalom.
Pinheiro Braathen has two GS wins from the time he was competing for Norway but is chasing his first victory in the discipline since his switch to the Brazilian ski federation in 2024.
“I really had the feeling that the victory would be mine today, I had such a good feeling,” said Pinheiro Braathen, who has racked up five podium results in GS — all second places — since his nation switch, including three in the current season.
“But it is OK, I didn’t find the speed in the second run. I’m impressed with Loic.”
Pinheiro Braathen stepped away from the sport in October 2023 following a dispute with the Norwegian ski federation over his personal marketing rights, but returned a year later to represent Brazil, his mother’s native country.
Unheralded Alban Elezi Cannaferina clocked the fastest second-run and the Frenchman improved from eighth position to third, 0.90 behind Meillard, for his first career podium.
Elezi Cannaferina was the 2023 junior world champion and had an 11th place from a GS in Norway last March as his best World Cup result so far.
His stunning final run bumped Olympic GS champion Marco Odermatt off the podium and into fourth, 0.36 behind the Frenchman. Odermatt lost time early in his second run when he struggled for balance and nearly skied out with his right leg in the air, though the Swiss star ultimately managed to stay in the course.
Odermatt remained in the lead of the GS standings with 450 points, 103 clear of Pinheiro Braathen, with two more races scheduled after the Olympics.
A night slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Wednesday.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Switzerland's Loic Meillard celebrates with second placed Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, back to camera, after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard, centre, winner of alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, poses with second placed Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, left, and third placed France's Alban Elezi Cannaferina, in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Switzerland's Loic Meillard speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom in Schladming, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Three Texas siblings who perished in an icy pond were among several dozen deaths in U.S. states gripped by frigid cold Tuesday as crews scrambled to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages in the shivering South and forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse.
Brutal cold lingered in the wake of a massive storm that dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) from Arkansas to New England and left parts of the South coated in treacherous ice.
Freezing temperatures hovered Tuesday as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina, and were forecast to plunge again overnight. Parts of northern Florida were expected to sink to 25 F (minus 3.9 C) late Tuesday into early Wednesday.
The arctic misery over the eastern half of the U.S. was expected to worsen Friday and Saturday. The National Weather Service said another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend, and more record lows were forecast as far south as Florida.
“This could be the coldest temperature seen in several years for some places and the longest duration of cold in several decades,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center warned Tuesday.
Officials in states afflicted with severe cold reported more than 40 deaths.
Three brothers ages 6, 8 and 9 died Monday after falling through ice on a private pond near Bonham, Texas, Fannin County Sheriff Cody Shook said Tuesday. The boys' mother said she ran into the freezing lake and frantically tried to pull her sons from the water, but the ice kept breaking beneath them.
“They were just screaming, telling me to help them,” Cheyenne Hangaman told The Associated Press. “And I watched all of them struggle, struggle to stay above the water. I watched all of them fight.”
More than 470,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday evening, with over half the outages in Tennessee and Mississippi. Reconnecting some hard-hit areas could take days. Electric utility Entergy said some of its 6,000 customers in Grenada, Mississippi, might not have power until Sunday.
Jean Kirkland used a lighter and paper Tuesday to ignite her gas stovetop. Her neighborhood in Lexington, Mississippi, lost power Sunday, and Kirkland and her daughter have been relying on the stove and a couple of gas-powered heaters to keep warm. Outside, icicles dangling from power lines clattered.
“When you’re used to certain things, you miss them when they’re gone,” said Kirkland, who’s been getting by without hot water and lights at night, as well as her TV.
Health officials warn against using gas-powered stoves to heat a home. They can give off fumes that increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least one carbon monoxide death was reported in Louisiana, according to the state health department.
Dozens of Mississippi counties were in need of bottled water, blankets, tarps, fuel and generators, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was sending trucks loaded with supplies, Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday.
More than 110,000 outages remained in Nashville, Tennessee, and neighboring communities Tuesday. Nashville Electric Service said on social media it had dispatched more than 740 workers to restore power. It didn’t say how long that might take.
Nashville officials said nearly 440 people spent Monday night at community centers being used as temporary shelters, while 1,400 more stayed at area homeless shelters. Many residents booked rooms at local hotels.
Lisa Patterson had planned to ride out the deep freeze at her family's Nashville home. But she and her husband lost power, trees fell onto their driveway and their wood stove proved no match for the cold. Along with their dog, the couple had to be rescued and taken to a warming shelter.
“I’ve been snowed in up there for almost three weeks without being able to get up and down my driveway because of the snow. I’m prepared for that. But this was unprecedented," Patterson said.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear warned that the temperatures could become so frigid that as little as 10 minutes outside “could result in frostbite or hypothermia.”
In New York City, officials said 10 people had been found dead outdoors in the cold. More deaths were reported across a dozen states. They included two people hit by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, and two teenagers killed while sledding in Arkansas and Texas.
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia; Bates from Lexington, Mississippi; and Hall from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press writers around the country contributed.
A pond where neighbors say three young boys died after falling into the water is seen Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Bonham, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New York Waterway ferries move as ice floats on the Hudson River seen from the Edge sky deck at Hudson Yards, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Emma Teske shovels out her car following a winter storm that dumped more than a foot and a half of snow across the region, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Haverhill, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A tree limb dangles from a power line near Lexington, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)
A tree downed by ice rests in a front yard just feet from a house in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Travis Loller)
People take the Staten Island Ferry as ice floats on the Hudson River, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A woman walks across the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)
Carrie Hampton tries to navigate a snowy intersection without spilling her coffee in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A person walks their dog in the snow after a storm in Portsmouth, N.H., Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
In this image provided by the City of Oxford, Miss., snow and ice cover trees and streets as a winter storm passes through, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Miss. (Josh McCoy/City of Oxford, Miss. via AP)
A man digs a car out of the snow on Beacon Hill following a winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A lineman works to restore power in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)
