HAFJELL, Norway -- Olympic champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen added the World Cup giant slalom season title on Tuesday in a stunning campaign for the Brazilian skier.
Racing on the slope where he grew up, the Norway-born star protected his first-run lead to finish 0.58 seconds ahead of Loïc Meillard, who would have taken the season-long title had Pinheiro Braathen failed to finish.
Pinheiro Braathen won the seasonlong slalom title in 2023 when skiing for Norway, then split months later with the national ski federation in a dispute over sponsorship. That pushed him toward competing for his mother's home nation after sitting out an entire season.
At the start of racing on Tuesday, Swiss superstar Marco Odermatt led the giant slalom standings, but he failed to complete his first run.
Pinheiro Braathen, 25, skied with calm assurance to claim the title that never looked at risk.
On seeing his winning time, he saluted fans by raising his right index finger and slowly skied toward a bank of photographers and screamed with joy. He turned to look into the finish-area television camera and yelled "Vamos!"
In third place was Pinheiro Braathen's childhood friend Atle Lie McGrath, trailing by 0.87.
The men's World Cup season ends on Wednesday with the slalom title at stake. The Vermont-born McGrath leads the standings with Pinheiro Braathen his closest challenger.
Odermatt already secured the World Cup season titles in downhill, super-G and overall but could not retain his giant slalom title.
Odermatt has seemed fatigued in recent weeks and does not relish the softer springlike snow typical of World Cup courses in March. The temperature was 7 degrees (44 F) when the second run started at 12:30 p.m. local time.
