Photo: Lucas Braathen. Alta Badia. GEPA pictures.

Alta Badia, Italy – Lucas Braathen might be just the type of personality that skiing needs to join Marco Odermatt among the younger generation taking over the sport.

The 22-year-old Norwegian with a Brazilian mother and a taste for fashion displayed his skills on the slopes by winning Alta Badia, one of the biggest giant slalom races of the World Cup season.

It was a second consecutive victory for Braathen, who won a slalom last weekend in Val d’Isere, France.

30 talented men attacked the second run of the Gran Risa. Even on a blue-sky day, the sun does not find the race hill during the competition. Alta Badia is undoubtedly a demanding and classic GS. The second run course set by the French team was faster than the day’s first edition but a good test skill. 

It surprised no one when Marco Odermatt attempted revenge on the Grans Risa. However, Odermatt had dug a deep hole on the first run finishing well back in ninth place. He was second on the final run and crossed with a 0.70 lead and began his climb up the leaderboard. He was able to hold off the next five skiers until the eventual winner Lucas Braathen descended and took the race lead by 0.10 seconds. 

Braathen then saw off the challenge of Henrik Kristoffersen and that of first-run leader Zan Kranjec. Braathen takes his second victory in two races in two events. Kristoffersen finished in second, and Odermatt went from ninth to third in the second run. This race represents Braathen’s fourth World Cup victory of his young career. 

“Winning is like a drug, you just need more of it,” Braathen said. “So I just tried everything I could to regain that experience and what a privilege to already be able to feel it again.”

“It’s incredible,” he said. “Growing up, watching Alta Badia as a kid, it’s one of my favorites, for sure, it’s arguably the coolest giant slalom slope in the world. I can’t believe I’m victorious here. It’s unbelievable, I’m going to remember this day forever,” said Braathen.

It was Braathen’s fourth career win. His first came two seasons ago in the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden, Austria. But a serious knee injury experienced that January set him back and forced him to miss the 2021 world championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Now, Braathen is back on track and shaping up as a medal threat in two events at this season’s world championships in Courchevel and Méribel, France, in February.

One of the big stories of the day comes from an Andorran athlete. Once again, we had an athlete who barely qualified for the second run ski amazingly well in the second and drastically moved up the leaderboard. This time it is Andorra’s, Joan Verdu. Skiing with bib 38, he qualified 28th. However, he skied like one of the world’s best on the second run, winning it by 0.16 over Odermatt.

Notably, this is only the second time the 27-year-old has scored in the World Cup. Verdu’s second run time was so fast that he stayed in the leader’s chair for what felt like the entire race, as racer after racer failed to beat his combined time. It took 17 racers to decent the course before Verdu relinquished the lead. The 22-year-old, US-born Atle Lie McGrath finally finished with a total time 0.67 seconds ahead of Verdu. Verdu finished the day with a career-best 12th.

It was undoubtedly the most dramatic GS of the new season and we have another edition tomorrow. 

The fastest North American of the day, finishing 21st, is Canadian Erik Read. But the Canadian story of the day is James Crawford. The speed skier is showing the extent of his talents by scoring his career-first GS World Cup points, Crawford finished 25th. This accomplishment on the demanding Gran Risa the day after skiing downhill in Val Gardena is impressive. Additionally, Trevor Philp struggled at the bottom of the second test and finished 29th. 

Notably, the emerging young Italian Filippo Della Vite continues to claim a place in the World Cup. The athlete born in 2001, Della Vite finished 17th, 5th on the second course, and top Italian.

Analysis of the top three, Verdu, Qualifying North Americans and complete results

Results of the December 18th Alta Badia GS

This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.