VIENNA (AP) — Austrian public prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Monday against a 21-year-old defendant who they say planned to carry out an attack on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024.
Vienna public prosecutors said in a statement that the unnamed defendant had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group by sharing propaganda material and videos via various messaging services.
Vienna prosecutors also accuse the defendant of having “obtained instructions on the internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide” typically used by IS, and of having produced a small amount of the explosive.
Prosecutors also say that the defendant had made "several attempts” to buy weapons illegally outside the country and to bring them to Austria.
Vienna public prosecutors plan to proceed with a criminal case against the unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a town near the Austrian capital.
The spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutors office confirmed to The Associated Press that the defendant is in custody. Austrian media identified the suspect as Beran A. and said he was arrested in August 2024.
Austrian authorities canceled three planned Taylor Swift shows in Vienna in August 2024 after they said they foiled an apparent plot to target the performances.
The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.
“The United States has an enduring focus on our counterterrorism mission. We work closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats. And so as part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna,” then-White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in August 2024.
FILE - Austrian police officers watch swifts gathering in the city centre in Vienna on Aug.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, file)
BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Atle Lie McGrath’s gold-medal hopes in the Olympic slalom slipped away. His ski poles were then thrown away. And then he simply stumbled away through the snow toward the woods.
It was all part of an epic Olympic meltdown that turned Monday's race into high-tragic theater.
“I thought that I would get some peace and quiet, which I didn’t,” the Norwegian ski racer said of his retreat from the course after losing out on a medal. “Because photographers and police found me out in the woods. But I just needed some time for myself.”
McGrath, who was born in Vermont but grew up in Norway, entered the final run of the final men’s race at the Milan Cortina Games with a big lead in his best event. But after straddling a gate, McGrath lost a medal and then control of his emotions in a race won by Loic Meillard of Switzerland.
The 25-year-old McGrath tossed each pole over the safety netting lining the Stelvio course. He then climbed the fencing on the other side of the course and made his way through the snow to the edge of the wilderness, where he laid on his back.
McGrath later arrived in the finish area and walked away without talking. More than two hours later, he met the media at a nearby Bormio hotel.
“I’m normally a guy that’s very good when it comes to perspective on things,” he said. “And if I don’t ski well in a race, I can at least tell myself that I’m healthy and my family’s healthy and the people I love are here. So that’s nice, but that’s not been the case. I’ve lost someone I love so much and that makes it really hard.”
McGrath has been racing with a heavy heart, with his grandfather dying the day of the opening ceremony. He wore an armband as a tribute.
“What he’s gone through these last 10, 12 days, it’s been really tough,” said teammate Timon Haugan, who finished fourth in Monday's race. “He’s been really sad. He started to do better and today he’s going through ... we need to really back him up today.”
McGrath was close to a medal, too. Very close. His mistake happened right in front of a Swiss coach standing on the course, whose celebration for Meillard’s now-guaranteed gold medal caused the team to later apologize to the Norwegians.
“I gave myself the absolute best opportunity you could today,” McGrath said. “I skied so great, and I still couldn’t get it done. So that’s what really hurts.”
Haugan felt for him.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” he said. “He's doing everything perfect. He did a very good first run, put himself in a position to win the Olympic gold. He does everything right and then that happens in 15 seconds."
Bronze medalist Henrik Kristoffersen, McGrath's Norwegian teammate, knows the feeling. Kristoffersen was leading the slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games only to ski out in the second run.
“In the end, it’s another ski race. In the end, it’s not going to make or break Atle's career,” Kristoffersen said. "He is a great skier. If he keeps going like he’s going, he will have great success for the future. This is just our sport.
“That’s how it goes sometimes. I’ve been in this exact same position, and done the same thing (skied out). And yes, it hurts. But it is what it is.”
The emotional outburst?
“That's allowed,” Kristoffersen said. “This is sports. What are sports without the emotions?”
Meillard echoed that thought. It's a fickle discipline, where a racer weaves through a tight course set.
“The beauty of slalom is that when it works out it’s beautiful," Meillard said. "I was definitely sorry for him, but at the end, all the times he won when I skied out — that’s part of the game.”
For McGrath, there won't be anymore alone time.
“I spent my time in the woods,” McGrath said with a laugh. "So now I’m going to spend time with the people I love and that’s all I need.
“I think I need quite a bit of time to process this and it’s going to be extremely tough. We’ll see how it goes, but at least I’m surrounded by great people who love me and who I love. I’m at least happy that they’ll be here.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Norway's Atle Lie McGrath walks off the course after skiing out 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 arrives 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 walks off the course after skiing out 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 walks off the course after skiing out during an alpine ski, men's slalom race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)
