Last at halfway, smiling at the finish: Israel’s first Olympic bobsled run

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — AJ Edelman and Menachem Chen are in last place out of 26 sleds at the midway point of the Olympic two-man bobsled race at the Milan Cortina Games.

And they're thrilled.

Israel competed in Olympic bobsled for the first time on Monday, and for Edelman and Chen that was more than enough to celebrate. They had the slowest starts and slowest finishes in both of their two heats and finished nearly five seconds — a massive gap in sliding — behind leader Johannes Lochner of Germany. They also had absolutely no complaints afterward.

“We are victors,” Edelman said. “Not victims.”

Edelman — a Boston native who also made Israeli sports history when he became the country's first Olympic skeleton competitor at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games — has bucked long odds and paid big bills to make these quests happen.

Sliding isn't cheap and the pay isn't great even for the biggest names in the world. Edelman freely admits that he's not particularly fast, and the Israeli team doesn't have a full-time coach. The team had to sweat out just getting a berth in the Olympic field, then dealt with a robbery at the apartment they were using as a training base before coming to Italy.

Days like Monday make it all more than worthwhile, he said.

“I’ve been to the games before. It’s not the greatest thing in the world,” said Edelman, who jumped out of his sled in celebration Monday, more proof that the result was irrelevant from his perspective. "But it is the greatest thing in the world to see your country represented, and some kid’s going to see that, and they’re going to go, ‘You know what, I can start no worse than that guy, but I can do a lot better than that guy.' And he’s going to start his journey.

"What’s a better thing in the world to accomplish than that?”

Israel has 10 athletes at the Milan Cortina Olympics, six of them sliders. The country's participation comes at a time when Israel’s presence in international sports has been met with boycotts, bans and backlash over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 71,800 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry, and devastated the strip.

Contending isn't a realistic expectation. Representing is the goal.

“I’m just here to make everybody watching proud, to represent not just Israel but all Jewish people around the world," Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone — an attorney in South Florida — said last week during that competition. "That’s what I’m here for. That’s my message.”

Edelman, believed to be the first Orthodox Jew to compete in the Winter Games, is leading a team that has a bunch of first-time sliders, after he helped recruit a rugby player and three track and field athletes to fill out the national team. Edelman and Chen will get one more run on Tuesday; they'll need what might be a mathematically impossible rally to get into the top 20 sleds and be assured of a fourth and final run of the two-man event.

Edelman will lead a team into the four-man event later this week as well. He said he thought about abandoning his plans to lead an Olympic bobsled team many times, before his mother talked him out of it.

“We always want to be the first but not the last,” Edelman said. “I was very sure that, if we didn’t get it done, there would never be an Israeli bobsled team in the Games, because no one was going to fight for that. Now we’ve set a precedent. Others can come after us."

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Israel's Adam Edelman, front, starts for a two man bobsled training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Israel's Adam Edelman, right, and Menachem Chen start for a two man bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Israel's Adam Edelman, front, and Menachem Chen start for a two man bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Israel's Adam Edelman salutes public at the end of a two man bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Israel's Adam Edelman, left, and Menachem Chen celebrate at the end of a two man bobsled run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Loic Meillard of Switzerland used a strong second run to win the men's slalom Monday on a day that saw Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen fall in the first run, ending his bid for another Olympic gold.

The event closes out the men's Alpine program at the Milan Cortina Games.

Meillard adds gold to a silver he won in the team combined and bronze from the giant slalom.

Meillard finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 53.61 seconds. He edged Fabio Gstrein of Austria by 0.35 seconds, while Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway took bronze. It was quite a contrast of runs, too, with snow and fog in the morning and the sun peeking out for the afternoon.

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath, the first-run leader, straddled a gate and was out. He was so irate that he threw his ski poles over the netting on one side. He then went outside the netting on the other side, trudging along the snow. He sat down and then fell back, breathing heavily.

McGrath has been racing with a heavy heart, with his grandfather dying the day of the opening ceremony. McGrath wore an armband as a tribute.

Pinheiro Braathen made history by winning the giant slalom Saturday, becoming the first athlete from South America to win a medal at a Winter Olympics. But his ski slipped out on a fast first run and his bid for another medal was over. Pinheiro Braathen represented Norway before switching to Brazil, his mom’s home country.

Switzerland led the men's Alpine skiing medal table in Bormio with eight (four gold, two silver and two bronze). Austria (two silvers) and Italy (silver, bronze) each had two, while Brazil (gold), U.S. (silver) and Norway (bronze) brought home one apiece.

The heavy snow led to a tricky morning of racing. The competition featured 96 racers in the field, with many representing nontraditional ski nations. Of the 96 racers, there were 49 who didn’t finish the course, two who were disqualified and another who didn’t start.

It was a ceremonial slalom run for AJ Ginnis of Greece. He said an ankle surgery didn’t heal properly and he couldn’t compete the way he wanted to. This was his farewell run.

“To be able to stand here today and just everything ski racing has given me in life, a college degree, security, and most importantly friends and people that will stay with me forever, it’s just something that you could have told that to a 10-year-old AJ and his parents and they would have never believed it,” Ginnis said.

Among the skiers in the field were Henri Rivers IV of Jamaica; Faiz Basha of Singapore and Lasse Gaxiola of Mexico. Gaxiola’s mom, Sarah Schleper, competed in the super-G and giant slalom in Cortina.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Switzerland's Loic Meillard celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen, left, hugs Switzerland's Loic Meillard at the finish area, during an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Switzerland's Loic Meillard celebrates winning an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath speeds down the course, during an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath speeds down the course, during an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen reacts after crashing during an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen reacts at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath competes an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen reacts after crashing during an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)