Alpine skiing-Let's Dance - Pinheiro Braathen aims to samba his way to slalom gold

Jan 16 - When slalom specialist Lucas Pinheiro Braathen announced his return to the World Cup circuit in 2024, his message was simple -- 'The time has come, Brazil. Let's Dance.'

In February, the Norway-born 25-year-old will hope to make good on that vow and perform his trademark samba celebration at the Milano-Cortina Olympics.

After switching his allegiance from Norway to Brazil, the country of his mother Alessandra's birth and where he spent his early childhood, Pinheiro Braathen made it his mission to put the sprawling soccer-mad nation on the winter sports map.

So far, he has done a pretty good job.

In November, he gave Brazil its first World Cup victory when he triumphed in a thrilling slalom race in Levi, Finland, beating Olympic champion Clement Noel to top spot.

After clicking out of his skis that day, he sank to his knees in celebration before draping himself in green and yellow.

He was rewarded with a reindeer for that win in Lapland but should he repeat that performance on Bormio's Stelvio course next month, the caipirinhas will flow at the Italian resort.

Pinheiro Braathen, who concedes he rather reluctantly took up skiing aged eight after being introduced to it by his Norwegian father Bjorn, is not your standard Alpine ski racer.

Yes, he has the icy focus associated with Norway's top racers, but he also brings a Latin exuberance on and off the slopes, with regular slots as a DJ, fashion model and designer of his own range of clothing.

His shock decision to quit on the eve of the 2023 season despite being the World Cup slalom champion, following a dispute with the Norwegian federation over image rights, reverberated around the sport.

"I reached a point where I felt I had lost the reason why I began skiing," he later said. "I needed to break away from the sport, spend time with myself before choosing my next path."

SLALOM RETURN

Thankfully for Alpine ski fans, he missed the adrenaline-fuelled world of slalom racing and returned for the 2024-25 season in the colours of Brazil with renewed purpose.

"The possibility of representing 200 million people. That is something I look at today as perhaps one of the most beautiful aspects of this project," said Pinheiro Braathen, whose hobbies include surfing, one-wheel biking and cliff diving.

While Brazil has no winter sports tradition or infrastructure, the country could soon be celebrating an unlikely Olympic gold medal if all goes to plan.

Pinheiro Braathen, who won five World Cup races in Norwegian colours, has enjoyed a consistent season and is currently second in the overall World Cup standings following his second place behind Marco Odermatt in a giant slalom in Adelboden last week.

There is something samba-like about the way Pinheiro Braathen attacks a slalom course -- an instinct he says comes from his rich heritage.

"If we're talking about being sporty, the explosiveness of a Brazilian is something that pays off well in the technical disciplines," he said in an interview with Red Bull, one of his sponsors. "You can really see that in my skiing!"

Now based in Milan, Pinheiro Braathen has a high-class team around him led by his father and including Michael Pircher who once worked with Austrian great Marcel Hirscher.

"He's the only one that during all these years has just stuck by my side and knows what this has truly cost me," he said of his father. "I wouldn't be able to do this without him." REUTERS