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MFA Agri Services River Hills - CLICK - MFA CONNECT Perryville, Farmington Bulk Plant, & Ste. Genevieve, MO.
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03/24 07:34 CDT Brazilian skier Pinheiro Braathen wins World Cup giant slalom
to take season title
Brazilian skier Pinheiro Braathen wins World Cup giant slalom to take season
title
HAFJELL, Norway (AP) --- 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 Loc Meillard, who would have
taken the season-long title had Pinheiro Braathen failed to finish.
Pinheiro Braathen won the season-long 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.
The 25-year-old Pinheiro Braathen 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.
The Swiss star has seemed fatigued in recent weeks and does not relish the
softer spring-like 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.
___
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
