Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wins giant slalom, earns South America’s 1st medal at Winter Games

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen turned in a powerful final run to win the Olympic giant slalom Saturday and earn South America’s first medal at a Winter Games.

The race isn’t quite official yet, though, with dozens of lower-tier racers still to take the course. But he's the leader after the top 30 fastest from the first run.

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 bronze.

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.”

Fittingly enough, it’s Carnival season, too, a festival of parades, masquerades and partying made famous in places such as Brazil.

There's plenty to celebrate because, “Brazil is an Olympic champion in Alpine skiing,” he said.

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 return a year later representing Brazil.

“I just wanted to share this with everyone watching in Brazil, following me, cheering for me," he said, speaking to TV Globo. "This can be a point of inspiration for the next generation of children, showing them that nothing is impossible. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. What matters is what’s inside. What the heart does. I bring Brazilian strength today to bring this flag to the podium. This is Brazil’s.”

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, first Brazilian gold medalist.

“I was pulling. Pulling, pulling, always pulling, trying to find where to step, always trying to find the rhythm," Pinheiro Braathen said. "I 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.”

In Milan, his fans, decked out in green and yellow, crowded into “Casa Brasil.” They cheered for the entirety of his run, screaming and jumping to their feet once he finished. The sound system blared “We Are The Champions” before playing samba-infused songs for everyone to dance to.

He remains a popular figure, with one spectator wearing a “Lucas Fan Club” T-shirt at the Brazil House, while another clutched a sign declaring “I’m a fan of Lucas.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrated his country’s first ever Winter Olympics medal on his social media channels.

“This unprecedented result shows Brazilian sport has no limits. It is the reflection of talent, dedication and continuous work to strengthen sport in every dimension,” Lula said. “Congratulations to Lucas Pinheiro and all the team involved in this historic achievement, which inspires new generations and widens the horizon for Brazilian sport.”

It’s another medal at the Milan Cortina Games for the 28-year-old Odermatt. He added this to the silver in the team event, where he partnered with Meillard, and bronze in the super-G.

Atle Lie McGrath of Norway wore a black armband in remembrance of his grandfather, who died on the day of the opening ceremony. He finished fifth.

Associated Press Writers Stefanie Dazio in Milan and Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed to this report

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing and AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Supporters of Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen react at the Brazil House as he starts his second run in the men's giant slalom at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, center, winner of a gold medal in an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, celebrates with silver medalist Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, left, and bronze medalist Switzerland's Loic Meillard, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt speeds down the course, during an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen competes during an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen checks his time at the finish area after the first run of an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen competes during an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

LONDON (AP) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs, five European countries said Saturday.

The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said analysis of samples taken from Navalny's body “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.” It is a neurotoxin found in the skin of dart frogs in South America that is not found naturally in Russia, they said.

The countries said in a joint statement that “Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison.” They said they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

They made the announcement as Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany as the second anniversary of Navalny's death approaches.

Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024. He was serving a 19-year sentence that he believed to be politically motivated.

“Russia saw Navalny as a threat," British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said. "By using this form of poison the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition.”

Navalny’s widow, said last year that two independent labs had found that her husband was poisoned shortly before he died. Navalnaya has repeatedly blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, something Russian officials have vehemently denied.

Navalnaya said Saturday that she had been “certain from the first day” that her husband had been poisoned, “but now there is proof.”

“Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon,” she wrote on social network X, calling Putin “a murderer” who “must be held accountable.”

Russian authorities said that the politician became ill after a walk and died from natural causes.

Epibatidine is found naturally in dart frogs in the wild, and can also be manufactured in a lab, which European scientists suspect was the case with the substance used on Navalny. It works on the body in a similar way to nerve agents, causing shortness of breath, convulsions, seizures, a slowed heart rate and ultimately death.

Navalny was the target of an earlier poisoning in 2020, with a nerve agent in an attack he blamed on the Kremlin, which always denied involvement. His family and allies fought to have him flown to Germany for treatment and recovery. Five months later, he returned to Russia, where he was immediately arrested and imprisoned for the last three years of his life.

The U.K. has accused Russia of repeatedly flouting international bans on chemical and biological weapons. It has accused the Kremlin of carrying out a 2018 attack in the English city of Salisbury that targeted a former Russian intelligence officer, Sergei Skripal, with the nerve agent Novichok. A British inquiry concluded that the attack “must have been authorized at the highest level, by President Putin.”

The Kremlin has denied involvement.

Yulia Navalnaya, human rights activist and wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, gives a press statement on the death and circumstances of her husband's death on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Yulia Navalnaya, human rights activist and wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, gives a press statement on the death and circumstances of her husband's death on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

FILE - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks to the media in front of security officers standing guard at the Foundation for Fighting Corruption office in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)