It Snowed on Carnival: Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Brazil's Historic Olympic Gold

The Wake-Up Call

I was not planning to watch skiing today. It’s the first day of Carnival. São Paulo was still sleeping. My teenagers were definitely still sleeping.

Then my cousin called from Austria. He’s not the type to call early without a reason. “Nick. There’s a Brazilian leading the Olympic giant slalom by almost a second. You need to turn on the television.”



I woke the kids. I found CazeTV. We watched in our pyjamas as 220 million Brazilians gradually realised that something impossible was happening in the Italian Alps.

The Race

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen drew bib number one. He was first out of the start gate on the Stelvio course in Bormio, and he attacked it with a ferocity that left the field behind. His first-run time of 1:13.92 put him nearly a second ahead of Marco Odermatt, the Swiss defending champion and the most dominant skier in the world. It was the largest first-run margin in an Olympic men’s giant slalom since Tomba in 1988, as as NBC noted.

The second run was different. Snow falling, fog rolling in, the course getting heavier and more treacherous. Lucas had to wait, watching competitor after competitor try to close the gap. He nearly slipped in Sector 3. But he held on, crossing the line in a combined 2:25.00 — 0.58 seconds ahead of Odermatt. Two Swiss on the podium. One Brazilian on top.

He fell to the ground. Then he screamed. Then he cried. Then, because he is who he is, he danced samba.

The Question

The Identity Question: Who Is Lucas Pinheiro Braathen?

We live in an era obsessed with identity. Where are you from? What defines you? Whose flag do you carry? These questions are asked in politics, in culture, in sport, with increasing intensity and decreasing nuance.

Lucas offers a different answer. Identity is not assigned. It is chosen.

Born in Oslo in 2000 to a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mother. Childhood split between continents. Raised bilingual, straddling two of the world’s most distinctive national identities. He excelled in Norway’s system, becoming one of the best slalom skiers on earth. Five World Cup victories racing for Norway, including the world’s number one ranking in slalom. Then, in October 2023, a shock retirement, a falling out with the Norwegian federation over sponsorship rights and a deeper feeling of not being free to be himself. He walked away, not because he failed, but because the system didn’t allow him to be who he felt he was.

He booked a one-way ticket to Brazil. Ended up on Ilhabela, an island off the coast of São Paulo. Found something there. Came back to skiing in 2024 wearing green and yellow, and “Vamos Dançar” to the back of his helmet.

“Norway taught me how to be an athlete, how to brave the cold. Brazil taught me how to be myself.”

Today he is Brazil's first Winter Olympic champion. South America's first Winter Olympic medallist. And as of a few hours ago, the owner of 220 million new fans.

The Paradox

A country with no snow just won Olympic gold in Alpine skiing. This is, on the surface, absurd. Brazil has no mountains high enough for a World Cup course. It has no winter sports infrastructure to speak of. Its previous best result at a Winter Olympics was ninth place in snowboard cross, by Isabel Clark, in Turin 2006. Twenty years ago.

And yet.

Brazil is also the country that produced Ayrton Senna, who came from the tropics to dominate the rain. The country that took football from England and made it an art form. The country where bossa nova emerged from a collision of samba and jazz, where capoeira was born from the meeting of African resistance and Brazilian invention. Brazil does not wait to be given permission. It absorbs, adapts, and creates something new.

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen is the latest expression of this.

The Brazilian Embrace

What strikes me, watching this from São Paulo, is not just the achievement. It is the embrace. Brazil did not ask Lucas for credentials. It did not demand proof of authenticity. It saw someone who chose to belong, and it opened its arms.



On CazeTV, the broadcaster that has redefined how Brazilians consume live sport, the chat flooded with what became the meme of the day:

"Brasil já ganhou ouro numa olimpíadas de inverno? NÃO! Brasil já ganhou alguma medalha de prata? NÃO? Brasil já ganhou bronze? NÃO! Argentina já ganhou no esqui? NÃO! Algum pais da America do Sul já ganhou alguma medalha? Não!! Lucas Pinheiro já ganhou? SIM. O Brasil tem neve? NÃO. O Brasil tem o Lucas? SIM. Então o Brasil já ganhou no esqui? SIM.  Hoje estamos escrevendo um novo capítulo da História! "

Casimiro, CazeTV, the voice of Brazil’s Winter Olympics

The logic is wonderfully, characteristically Brazilian. Does Brazil have snow? No. Does Brazil have Lucas? Yes. Then Brazil has won in skiing. QED.

He learned the national anthem with the help of his girlfriend, actress Isadora Cruz. He was photographed eating bolo de abacaxi com coco envolto de brigadeiros, a cake so Brazilian it practically has a CPF number. He plays football on the beach. He supports São Paulo FC. He dances samba (better than many Brazilians noted Isabel, my wife and partner). Today, he sang the anthem on the podium in the snow, and commentators who have covered decades of Brazilian sport went quiet with emotion.

This is what Brazil does. It doesn’t just tolerate difference. It incorporates it. Turns it into something new. The country’s entire cultural DNA is built on this principle, Portuguese and indigenous,  from the African rhythms in its music to the Japanese community in Liberdade to the German architecture of Blumenau. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, the Norwegian, Brazilian who brought the tropics to the Alps, is entirely in keeping with the tradition.

The Global South on the Podium

There is a broader story here, too. In 102 years of Winter Olympics, no athlete from the entire Southern Hemisphere had ever won a medal. Not from South America, not from Africa, not from Oceania. The Winter Games have been, overwhelmingly, a Northern European and North American affair.

Today, Brazil cracked that wall. And not with a bronze in a marginal event, with gold in one of the flagship disciplines of Alpine skiing, beating the defending Olympic champion from Switzerland. This is a statement.

Half way through the Winter Olympics, Brazil has more gold medals than Canada. Read that sentence again. It won’t be true for long, but right now, in this moment, it is deliciously, improbably, beautifully true.

What Comes Next

On Monday morning at 5:00am Brasília time, Lucas races the slalom. He is among the favourites. There could be a second gold. Nicole Silveira, Brazil’s skeleton competitor, is also in contention for a medal. The country that discovered the Winter Olympics a week ago is now emotionally invested in them.

For those of us who tell stories about Brazil for a living, the significance of this moment extends beyond sport. It is a reminder that this country’s capacity to surprise is limitless. That the best stories are the ones nobody expected. And that identity, national, cultural, personal, is never as fixed as we think it is.

Today it is Carnival. Today it snowed. Today, a young man in green and yellow proved that you can choose where you’re from and reach the top of the world.

Vamos dançar!

Nick Story

Story Productions

São Paulo · Salzburg

P.S.   Speaking of choosing where you belong, Story Productions has opened a pied-à-terre in Salzburg, Austria. We are now a Brazilian-European media group.

More on this very soon.