Olympic champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen secured his first World Cup giant slalom victory in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on March 7, 2026, narrowing the gap to leader Marco Odermatt in the discipline standings. The Brazilian skier finished 0.54 seconds ahead of Loic Meillard, with Stefan Brennsteiner in third. Odermatt placed fifth, reducing his GS Crystal Globe lead to 48 points with one race remaining.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, representing Brazil, claimed victory in the men's Audi FIS World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora on Saturday, March 7, 2026. This win marks the first giant slalom success for Brazil in World Cup history and comes three weeks after Braathen's gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where he became his nation's first Olympic Winter Games champion in the discipline.
The 25-year-old Norwegian-born skier delivered two strong runs, leading by 0.14 seconds after the first. Despite a challenging second run described as "borderline Downhill," Braathen held on to win by 0.54 seconds over Loic Meillard of Switzerland, who earned silver in his first race since the Olympics, where he took slalom gold, team combined silver, and GS bronze. Stefan Brennsteiner of Austria finished third, 0.80 seconds back, continuing his strongest World Cup season. Atle Lie McGrath of Norway was fourth, while Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, the four-time defending GS champion, ended fifth, 1.33 seconds behind the winner.
The result trimmed Odermatt's lead in the giant slalom Crystal Globe standings to 48 points over Braathen, with the final race set for March 24 in Lillehammer, Norway, offering a maximum of 100 points to the winner. In the overall World Cup standings, Odermatt maintains a 632-point advantage over Braathen, with eight races left, though no rival competes in all disciplines.
Braathen, who has two wins, four podiums, and five other top-five finishes since mid-December across 12 World Cup and Olympic races, celebrated with samba moves at the finish. "What a fun day it has been," he said, adding, "I train every single day to be ready for whatever unfolds. I am very proud of today’s performance."
Meillard, 89 points behind Odermatt and 41 back from Braathen in GS standings, remains in contention. "It’s a good feeling," the three-time Olympic medalist noted. "To be able to do it is great." Brennsteiner, 34 and in his best form 14 years after his World Cup debut, remarked on the sunny conditions: "It is ‘Brazilian weather’." The event unfolded under clear skies in sun-splashed Slovenia.
