BORMIO, Italy — Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen made South American sporting history with a stunning Olympic giant slalom gold medal in a driving blizzard on Saturday.

No athlete from the continent had ever won a medal of any color at the Winter Games, but the 25-year-old put that right with two incredible runs down the Stelvio course to hold off Swiss great Marco Odermatt by 0.58 seconds.

“I’m not even able to grasp reality,” said Pinheiro Braathen, who switched allegiance from Norway after briefly quitting the sport in 2023.

“I am just trying to get some sort of emotion here and translate it into words, though it’s absolutely impossible.”

Strains of the classic song “Mas Que Nada” rang out across the finish area as Pinheiro Braathen was serenaded by the Brazilians in the grandstand and wedged alongside the slope.

Down on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, too, the caipirinhas would surely be flowing for the soccer-mad country’s latest, and most unlikely, sporting hero.

“This unprecedented result shows that Brazilian sport has no limits,” Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva posted on X.

The skier was born to a Norwegian father and Brazilian mother. Once his parents divorced, he lived first with his mother in Brazil and later with his father in Norway.

Pinheiro Braathen has hardly emerged from nowhere.

He was the World Cup slalom champion in 2023 and is currently second in the overall standings behind Odermatt.

But no one envisioned the Brazilian opening a massive 0.95-second lead over Odermatt from bib No. 1 in a masterful first run that left his rivals scratching their heads and only seven of them within two seconds of him.

Barring a crash or an extraordinary Odermatt surge, it looked like nothing could deny him a history-making gold in the second as the weather closed in.

Odermatt, giant slalom champion in Beijing in 2022, duly cranked up the pressure with a searing second run to take the lead, leaving last man Pinheiro Braathen 54 gates from glory.

Pushing out of the start hut in his distinctive silver helmet, he leaked away some of his advantage with a few ragged turns, but with his eyes fixed on gold, the Brazilian avoided any calamities.

After crossing the line, Pinheiro Braathen collapsed to the snow before getting up and holding his skis aloft to the roaring grandstand.

He then sought out his father, Bjorn, who introduced him to the sport as a young boy, for an emotional embrace before breaking into his trademark samba celebration.

After climbing on the podium he punched the air as the Brazil anthem rang out for the first time ever at the Winter Olympics and the tears of joy began to flow.

Only three years ago, Pinheiro Braathen stunned those in his sport by quitting after being crowned World Cup champion in slalom that year following a fallout with the Norway federation, saying he could no longer express his vibrant personality.

Opening up in a documentary “Lucas Pinheiro Braathen: On My Terms”, he said skiing was making him miserable.

But he rediscovered the joy after returning to Brazil in 2024, and this season became Brazil’s first winner of a World Cup race.

All that is insignificant compared with what he achieved on Saturday, however, four years after failing to finish either of his events in his Olympic debut.

Pinheiro Braathen’s victory also stopped a Swiss sweep after all three of the gold medals so far in the men’s Alpine program had gone to Franjo von Allmen.

The Brazilian will have another shot at gold on Monday in the slalom.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — World Curling said on Saturday that it would have officials monitoring for rule violations during the rest of the competition at the Olympics after Sweden’s men’s team accused Canada of cheating in a tense round-robin game.

Tensions boiled over on Friday when Brad Jacobs’ Canada entry beat Sweden 8-6, with Niklas Edin’s rink alleging their opponents were double touching the stone during the contest.

World Curling has introduced electronic handles on stones at the Games, which flash red if players are still making contact with the stone beyond the hog line — the point where curlers must let go during delivery.

However, the sensor for detecting violations is in the handle, with Sweden claiming Canada’s players were touching the granite, where there are no sensors.

“It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery,” World Curling said in a statement.

“However, beginning with the Saturday (Feb. 14) afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries.”

World Curling also clarified its rules on deliveries, saying: “During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.”

After Sweden and Canada asked officials to keep an eye on their opponents’ deliveries early on, there was a heated exchange between the teams’ thirds Marc Kennedy and Oskar Eriksson toward the end of the game.

Eriksson told Kennedy he would show him a video replay of him touching the stone repeatedly. The Canadian responded with an expletive.

“World Curling spoke with the Canadian officials to issue a verbal warning regarding the language used by a Canadian men’s player during the game,” the sport’s governing body said.

“During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behavior… would result in additional sanctions.”

Curling Canada CEO Nolan Thiessen said it was a poor choice of words from Kennedy

“I think heat of the moment, I would allow for as well,” Thiessen told reporters.

“Something was said in his ear which got him going. Head games get played in a lot of sports and things get said in competitive sport and I think this was one of those situations. Do I wish Mark didn’t drop an F-bomb? Yeah.”

Swedish media on Friday tore into Kennedy, accusing the 2010 Olympic champion of cheating while also releasing videos and images of him appearing to touch a stone while it was crossing the hog line.

Asked about the video, Thiessen replied: “I was surprised that there was a live video on the hog line outside of OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) rules.

“That seems odd to me. But nevertheless, you know, I think they (the Canada team) are concentrating on the game today.”

The Swedish Curling Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media

Kevin Fiala underwent surgery on his left leg after being removed from the ice on a stretcher late in the third period of Switzerland’s 5-1 loss to Canada on Friday in a Group A preliminary round game in the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation announced the surgery on Saturday for Fiala, a forward for the Los Angeles Kings, and said he will miss the remainder of the Olympics.

Fiala was injured after getting his legs tangled with Canada’s Tom Wilson with just less than three minutes left in the game. Fiala was unable to get to his feet and medical personnel attended to him after a stoppage in play.

“Obviously it doesn’t look very good,” Switzerland coach Patrick Fischer said after the game. “Tough moment for Kevin and the whole team, obviously.”

Fiala, 29, has recorded 40 points (18 goals, 22 assists) in 56 games this season with the Kings, who reside three points in back of the Anaheim Ducks for the final wild-card spot in the NHL’s Western Conference.

“We need that guy on my team back home, big time,” said Canada defenseman Drew Doughty, who plays for the Kings.

For Fiala’s career, the 2022-23 All-Star has 229 goals and 299 assists across 707 games. He is in his 12th NHL season.

–Field Level Media