Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, Atle Lie McGrath / Sölden 2026 / GEPA pictures
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen left Sölden last October without finishing the first run. By the end of the season, he owned the two biggest prizes available in giant slalom.
The Brazilian won Olympic GS gold, captured the 2025-26 World Cup giant slalom title and closed the season with consecutive victories in Lillehammer and Kranjska Gora.
Now Braathen returns to the Rettenbach glacier as the No. 1 skier on the GS World Cup Start List. The Atomic and Oakley athlete starts bib 4 Sunday and enters the 2026-27 opener as the man everyone else must beat.
Defending Sölden champion Marco Odermatt starts bib 6, while Atle Lie McGrath opens the race with bib 1.
The first men’s World Cup race of the season features 69 competitors from 24 nations.
What to know before the Sölden men’s GS
- 🇧🇷 Bib 4 Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA), YOB 2000 — No. 1 on the GS WCSL; reigning World Cup GS champion and Olympic GS gold medalist; Atomic, Oakley.
- 🇨🇭 Bib 6 Marco Odermatt (SUI), YOB 1997 — No. 2 on the GS WCSL; defending Sölden champion; Stöckli, Salomon.
- 🇧🇪 Bib 12 Sam Maes (BEL), YOB 1998 — No. 15 on the GS WCSL; training with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team; Völkl, Marker, SHRED.
- 🇺🇸 Bib 14 River Radamus (USA), YOB 1998 — leads four U.S. starters and is 12th on the GS WCSL.
- 🇬🇧 Bib 46 Freddy Carrick-Smith (GBR), YOB 2007 — returns to Sölden after making his World Cup debut here last season.
- 🇨🇦 Bib 59 Erik Read (CAN), YOB 1991 — Canada’s lone starter and pursuing an 11th consecutive season scoring World Cup GS points; Atomic.
- 🇰🇷 Bib 65 Jeongwoo Shin (KOR), YOB 1999 — represents Korea deep in the start order.
- 🇯🇵 Bib 66 Ryoma Katayama (JPN), YOB 2003 — gives Japan a starter in Sunday’s opener.
Braathen returns with the biggest titles
Pinheiro Braathen’s history with Sölden has taken several turns.
He earned his first World Cup victory here in 2020 while representing Norway. Four years later, Sölden was where he scored Brazil’s first Alpine World Cup points.
Last season brought another dramatic chapter. Pinheiro Braathen failed to finish the first run in Sölden, then produced the most successful GS season of his career.
He won Brazil’s first Alpine World Cup Crystal Globe and brought the country its first Winter Olympic medal — and first gold — with his victory in the Milano Cortina giant slalom. He then won the final two World Cup giant slaloms in Lillehammer and Kranjska Gora.
Pinheiro Braathen arrives on Sunday with five consecutive World Cup GS podiums and eight consecutive top-10 GS finishes.
His World Cup career began with Norway, but his move to Brazil provided the path for him to continue racing after his break with the Norwegian system. He is now fully representing Brazil and has become one of the country’s most prominent winter-sport athletes.
Odermatt defends Sölden victory
Odermatt remains the obvious threat.
The Stöckli / Salomon skier won last year’s opener and has now won Sölden three times — in 2021, 2022 and 2025.
A fourth victory on Sunday would tie American Ted Ligety for the most men’s World Cup GS wins in Sölden.
Odermatt also makes his 200th World Cup start Sunday. He enters the season with 54 career World Cup victories and 102 podiums.
His 29 career GS victories place him third on the men’s all-time list in the discipline.
Braathen ended Odermatt’s run of four consecutive GS globes last winter. Their renewed battle begins immediately.
Top seven on the GS WCSL
The World Cup Start List and the current-season World Cup standings are different.
The WCSL uses rolling results from previous races and helps determine start-order position. Because Sölden is the first giant slalom of 2026-27, there are no current-season GS standings yet.
The top seven on the WCSL start Sunday in this bib order:
- 🇳🇴 Bib 1 Atle Lie McGrath (NOR), YOB 2000 — WCSL 5th, 375 points | HEAD.
- 🇦🇹 Bib 2 Stefan Brennsteiner (AUT), YOB 1991 — WCSL 4th, 463 points.
- 🇦🇹 Bib 3 Marco Schwarz (AUT), YOB 1995 — WCSL 6th, 368 points | Atomic.
- 🇧🇷 Bib 4 Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA), YOB 2000 — WCSL 1st, 647 points | Atomic, Oakley.
- 🇨🇭 Bib 5 Loïc Meillard (SUI), YOB 1996 — WCSL 3rd, 546 points.
- 🇨🇭 Bib 6 Marco Odermatt (SUI), YOB 1997 — WCSL 2nd, 575 points | Stöckli, Salomon.
- 🇳🇴 Bib 7 Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), YOB 1994 — WCSL 7th, 354 points | HEAD.
Only four nations — Norway, Austria, Brazil and Switzerland — occupy the first seven WCSL positions.
Switzerland and Norway have combined for 11 of the last 15 Sölden men’s GS podium positions.
Last year in Sölden
Odermatt won a tight race last October. The first four finished within four-tenths of a second.
- 🇨🇭 Marco Odermatt (SUI), YOB 1997 — 1st, 1:56.03
- 🇦🇹 Marco Schwarz (AUT), YOB 1995 — 2nd, +0.24
- 🇳🇴 Atle Lie McGrath (NOR), YOB 2000 — 3rd, +0.27
- 🇦🇹 Stefan Brennsteiner (AUT), YOB 1991 — 4th, +0.39
- 🇫🇷 Thibaut Favrot (FRA), YOB 1994 — 5th, +0.63
Four Americans start in Sölden
River Radamus leads the U.S. group from bib 14.
Radamus finished fourth in Sölden in 2024 and remains the highest-ranked American on the current GS WCSL.
- 🇺🇸 Bib 14 River Radamus (USA), YOB 1998 — GS WCSL 12th, 207 points | Stifel U.S. Ski Team | Ski & Snowboard Club Vail.
- 🇺🇸 Bib 34 Ryder Sarchett (USA), YOB 2003 — GS WCSL 34th, 37 points | Stifel U.S. Ski Team | Stifel Headgear Athlete | Sun Valley Ski Academy | University of Colorado.
- 🇺🇸 Bib 41 Bridger Gile (USA), YOB 1999 — GS WCSL 52nd, 4 points | Stifel U.S. Ski Team | Stifel Headgear Athlete | Ski & Snowboard Club Vail | HEAD, Oakley.
- 🇺🇸 Bib 61 Patrick Kenney (USA), YOB 1997 — independent / Stifel U.S. Ski Team programmed athlete | Burke Mountain Academy | University of New Hampshire | HEAD, SHRED.
Sarchett earned his first World Cup GS top-10 last season when he finished 10th in Val d’Isère.
Kenney enters the season with a different status and different equipment.
He is an independent athlete competing as a Stifel U.S. Ski Team programmed athlete. He is coached by and trains with the U.S. team, but he is not a named team member and pays his own expenses.
Kenney switched from Völkl/Marker to HEAD for this season and remains a SHRED athlete.
Tommy Ford remains injured and will not race in Sölden.
Paul Epstein takes over the U.S. men’s technical program
Sunday will be Paul Epstein’s first World Cup race as head coach of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team men’s technical program.
Epstein previously ran the independent Global Racing program.
That history creates an interesting connection inside Sunday’s race.
Patrick Kenney raced with Global during his career. So did Belgium’s Sam Maes.
Maes is now training with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, giving American fans another athlete to follow this winter.
Sam Maes adds another U.S. connection
- 🇧🇪 Bib 12 Sam Maes (BEL), YOB 1998 — GS WCSL 15th, 189 points | training with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team | former Global Racing athlete | Völkl, Marker, SHRED.
Maes finished a career-best 12th in the World Cup GS standings last season.
He recorded three top-seven finishes after never previously finishing inside the World Cup top seven.
Erik Read carries the Canadian flag
Canada has one starter Sunday.
- 🇨🇦 Bib 59 Erik Read (CAN), YOB 1991 — GS WCSL 41st, 15 points | University of Denver | Atomic.
Read enters the season pursuing an 11th consecutive year scoring World Cup GS points.
Sunday will also be his 204th World Cup start, moving him into fourth among Canadian Alpine racers, men and women combined, for career World Cup starts.
Read has made seven previous Sölden starts. He has qualified for the second run four times and posted a career-best Sölden result of seventh in 2019.
Carrick-Smith returns for Great Britain
- 🇬🇧 Bib 46 Freddy Carrick-Smith (GBR), YOB 2007 — Great Britain.
Carrick-Smith made his World Cup debut in last season’s Sölden giant slalom and returns for another opportunity on the Rettenbach glacier.
Japan and Korea represented late in the order
Ski Racing Media has a significant and growing audience in Asia, particularly Japan and China. That makes Sunday’s late starters from Korea and Japan especially worth following.
- 🇰🇷 Bib 65 Jeongwoo Shin (KOR), YOB 1999
- 🇯🇵 Bib 66 Ryoma Katayama (JPN), YOB 2003
Both will attack from deep in the field, where adapting to changing course and snow conditions becomes increasingly important.
Steen Olsen delays his comeback
Alexander Steen Olsen had been expected to make his World Cup return in Sölden after missing the entire 2025-26 season.
He changed course Friday.
Steen Olsen told Viaplay Norway that he had strongly hoped to race but concluded that he had not had enough preparation.
“I’m a bit rusty on my skiing — I simply need more time,” he said.
The Norwegian said he felt relieved after finally making the decision. He had been determined to start as long as his knee allowed it, but after missing an entire season, he decided more preparation was the better choice.
Steen Olsen won the Sölden GS in 2024 and finished fourth in the season-long GS standings that winter. His immediate goal is now another training block before potentially returning in Levi.
Sölden opens another GS battle
Odermatt returns to a hill where he has won three times.
Pinheiro Braathen returns to the hill where he failed to finish a year ago — now carrying Olympic gold, the World Cup GS globe and the No. 1 WCSL ranking.
Lie McGrath starts first. Brennsteiner follows with bib 2. Schwarz has bib 3. Then come Pinheiro Braathen, Meillard, Odermatt and Kristoffersen.
The season begins immediately, with the world’s best giant slalom racers poised to attack.
Course setters
- 🇳🇴 Run 1: Niclas Kjelsli (NOR) — 49 gates / 47 turning gates
- 🇧🇷 Run 2: Nick Cooper (BRA)
How to watch
United States: Peacock will stream both runs live and on demand, with additional coverage on NBCSN. Watch Run 1 on Peacock and Run 2 on Peacock. A free full-race replay will be available on the Ski & Snowboard World Cup YouTube channel 24 hours after airing.
Canada: Watch through CBC Sports and CBC Gem.
Great Britain: Watch via TNT Sports/HBO Max using the direct Sölden men’s GS event link.
When to watch
First run: 10:00 a.m. local | 9:00 a.m. UK (GMT) | 5:00 a.m. ET | 3:00 a.m. MT | 2:00 a.m. PT
Second run: 1:00 p.m. local | 12:00 p.m. UK (GMT) | 8:00 a.m. ET | 6:00 a.m. MT | 5:00 a.m. PT
Daily Program
Click on the daily program and start list to download
First Run Starlist
About the Author: Peter Lange
