Meillard of Switzerland wins slalom to close out men’s Alpine program at Olympics

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — The day on the Olympic slalom course saw a little bit of everything — fog, snow, sunshine, crashes, a larger-than-typical field and, unusually, an epic meltdown.

Loic Meillard weathered it all Monday to become the first Swiss man to win the Olympic slalom since skiing on home snow at the 1948 St. Moritz Games. He added gold to a silver he won in the team combined and bronze from the giant slalom at the Milan Cortina Games. 

“To have three races, three medals, and to top it off with a gold — it’s perfect,” said Meillard, who joins the company of Swiss racer Edi Reinalter, winner of the Olympic slalom in 1948.

It was quite an adventure to get there, though. There was the changing elements (snow and fog gave way to sun) and spills like the one that ended the day of Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who was bidding for another Olympic gold.

Maybe above all, Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath, the first-run leader, straddling a gate and becoming so irate that he threw his ski poles over the netting on one side. He then went outside the fencing on the other side, trudging along in the snow. He sat down and then fell back, breathing heavily. McGrath was that emotional.

Meillard finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 53.61 seconds as he edged Fabio Gstrein of Austria by 0.35 seconds. Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway took bronze.

Kristoffersen understood his teammate’s emotional outburst.

“This is sports,” said Kristoffersen, who was leading the slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games only to ski out in the final run. “What are sports without the emotions?”

More than two hours later, McGrath chatted with reporters outside a hotel in Bormio.

“I’m normally a guy that’s very good when it comes to perspective on things,” he said. “And if I don’t ski well in a race, I can at least tell myself that I’m healthy and my family’s healthy and the people I love are here. So that’s nice, but that’s not been the case. I’ve lost someone I love so much and that makes it really hard.”

McGrath’s grandfather died on the day of the opening ceremony. He wore an armband as a tribute.

With Monday’s race, the men’s Alpine program came to a close. It was only fitting that Switzerland wound up on top. 

The ski-crazed nation led the medal table in Bormio with eight (four gold, two silver and two bronze). Austria (two silvers) and Italy (silver, bronze) each had two, while Brazil (gold), U.S. (silver) and Norway (bronze) brought home one apiece. 

“We’re living in a bit of a ‘Golden Era’ in Switzerland in skiing,” Meillard said. “It’s crazy what’s been happening in the last few years, and so everyone has to enjoy it as much as possible, because most likely we will not stay like that for the next 10 years.”

Then again, maybe they will stay on top for that long. Franjo von Allmen, winner of three gold medals in Bormio, is just 24 years old.

“We have to enjoy it while it lasts,” Meillard said.

The morning got off to a wacky start with the fall of Pinheiro Braathen. He made history by winning the giant slalom Saturday, becoming the first athlete from South America to win a medal at a Winter Olympics. But his ski slipped out on a fast first run and his bid for another medal was over. Pinheiro Braathen represented Norway before switching to Brazil, his mom’s home country.

“You’ve got to ski with your heart and you’ve got to give it everything you’ve got, and that’s what I did,” Pinheiro Braathen said.

Heavy snow and fog led to a tricky morning of racing. The competition featured 96 racers in the field, with many representing non-traditional ski nations. Of the 96, there were 49 who didn’t finish the course, two who were disqualified and another who didn’t start.

It was a ceremonial slalom run for AJ Ginnis of Greece. He said an ankle surgery didn’t heal properly and he couldn’t compete the way he wanted to. This was his farewell run.

“To be able to stand here today and just everything ski racing has given me in life, a college degree, security, and most importantly friends and people that will stay with me forever, it’s just something that you could have told that to a 10-year-old AJ and his parents and they would have never believed it,” Ginnis said.

Among the skiers in the field were Henri Rivers IV of Jamaica; Faiz Basha of Singapore and Lasse Gaxiola of Mexico. Gaxiola’s mom, Sarah Schleper, competed in the super-G and giant slalom in Cortina.

In the afternoon, the weather improved and Meillard stormed to the top with a strong final run. The day, the entire men’s Olympic program in Bormio, really, belonged to the Swiss.

“Crazy day,” Meillard said. “Crazy Olympics.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics