• Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the first-ever Winter Olympics medal for a South American country.
• Born in Norway to a Brazilian mother, the skier now represents Brazil after a dispute with the Norwegian Ski Federation.
• Braathen briefly retired from skiing at age 23 to pursue other interests like modeling and being a DJ.
• He won the men’s giant slalom gold medal, finishing ahead of Swiss skiers Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard.

BORMIO, Italy — Other skiers will tell you that Lucas Pinheiro Braathen is really a Norwegian athlete to them, since he trained in that system to become of the world’s best alpine skiers.

Pinheiro Braathen, on the other hand, wants you to know how he was a soccer player first. He tells you about visiting family in Brazil when he was little and becoming so entranced by one-named Brazilian soccer megastars that he even informed his father around age 6 that he wanted to become the world’s best on the pitch.

“Somehow, I’m a skier now,” said Pinheiro Braathen, looking down at a freshly awarded Olympic gold medal in his hand. “But at least I’m a champ.”

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This brief contradiction – with a men’s giant slalom gold-medalist from Norway talking about soccer with a Brazilian flag tied around him – represents the nature of this 25-year-old’s complicated journey to reach a historic moment in Olympic history.

The medal around his neck is the first ever awarded to a South American country during the Winter Olympics. Pinheiro Braathen’s mother is Brazilian, but he was born in Oslo and grew up in Norway.

It is important to Pinheiro Braathen, though, that he isn’t just a skier.

He’s a celebrity. He’s a model. He’s a DJ. He’s also a world-class skier, of course, but those other pursuits prompted him to announce his shock retirement from skiing at age 23. He’d been representing Norway. Before long, he was back in the sport and competing for Brazil.

“Daring to trust one’s self is something that is very universal,” Pinheiro Braathen said. “It’s very difficult, and it only gets more difficult with every day that passes, with social media and constant exposure to other peoples’ live sand perspectives and opinions. If it’s anything I hope that I can be the source of inspiration of today: You have to be who you are.”

Pinheiro Braathen’s initial retirement from skiing “came after weeks of rumored disputes with the Norwegian Ski Federation regarding image rights,” per Olympics.com.

“For him, that was super important,” said Norway’s Alte Lie McGarth, a childhood friend of Pinheiro Braathen who finished fifth in the giant slalom in Bormio. “He needed to have the space to do exactly what he needed. He wants to do a bunch of stuff outside of skiing, and now he has the space to be who he wants to be. I’m just proud of him for taking the choice.”

Despite the novelty of Brazil winning a medal in Alpine skiing, Pinheiro Braathen’s victory wasn’t some huge upset. He’s considered one of the world’s best slalom racers. In November, Pinheiro Braathen won a World Cup race in Finland, a first for Brazil, and he arrived at these Olympics No. 2 in the World Cup rankings for slalom and giant slalom.

Blessed with the leadoff spot for the first run in Bormio on Feb. 14, he threw down a 1:13.92 in the morning to open the event. Odermatt was the only competitor to get within 1.57 seconds of that time, and even he was nearly a second (0.95) behind Pinheiro Braathen.

“Conditions are always a factor. He got a clean course, and he took advantage of it,” said River Radamus, the United States’ top finisher at 17th. “That’s part of the game. But he didn’t make any mistakes.”

The gold medal was clearly Pinheiro Braathen’s to lose in the afternoon’s second run, and he didn’t lose it, posting a 2:25 total – when added to his first time – that was still 0.58 seconds ahead of silver-medalist Marco Odermatt of Switzerland. Another Swiss skier, Loic Meillard, took the bronze.

After Pinheiro Braathen’s second run, the Swiss tandem celebrated with him on the course, and that continued until after the medal ceremony.

“It’s funny to sit here today at this moment,” Pinheiro Braathen said, “because I cannot tell you how many comments I’ve read through from the day I started representing Brazil until becoming an Olympic champion today that have been along the lines of, ‘I have no idea what’s going on, but let’s go Brazil! Let’s go Lucas!

“I think it’s that unconditional love and support from the Brazilians, even though we’re still in the journey of introducing ski racing to Brazil, that I really brough with me today and allowed me to ski as fast as I did.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — If it takes the young upstarts of the NBA, the eventual stars-to-be, to reinvigorate the NBA All-Star break, then we owe them considerable gratitude.

The NBA’s Rising Stars set the tone Friday, Feb. 13 in an engaging and entertaining showcase that culminated with a stellar performance from Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe to carry Team Vince — as in Vince Carter — to the Rising Stars championship. And as the NBA All-Star Game has faced widespread criticism for its lack of competitive spirit, let’s hope that the league’s biggest stars draw inspiration from its “Rising” ones.

In the semifinal round, Edgecombe scored his team’s final 10 points to win and carried Team Vince with 23 combined points across both games, including a pair of clutch, game-winning free throws in the championship.

“I appreciate people tuning in, even to the Rising Stars game,” Edgecombe told reporters after the game. “We just tried to make it fun, make it competitive, where it’s worth your time.”

Edgecombe wasn’t alone. On the whole, the entire crop of 28 first- and second-year players who participated Friday in the Rising Stars Game established a baseline spirit of competition that has been painfully absent from the supposed gem of the weekend, the actual All-Star Game.

Did the Rising Stars unleash relentless, playoff-level competition? No, of course not. They didn’t need to. What matters here is that they didn’t do the bare minimum. They didn’t sleepwalk and loaf through the exhibition in a way that insults fans investing their time and capital in the experience.

This is what’s crucial for the survival of the NBA All-Star Game, and the All-Star games of all the major domestic sports leagues, if we’re being honest. There’s a way to strike a balance of elevated competition without compromising safety or risking injury.

This was what the four coaches of the Rising Stars — Carter, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Austin Rivers — preached to their players.

“(The message) was compete hard but be smart,” Rockets guard Reef Sheppard, who played for Team Melo, told reporters. “This All-Star Weekend is supposed to be fun. At the same time, don’t go out there and just run around. Compete and play, but be smart and have fun.”

Said second-year Bulls forward Matas Buzelis, another emerging NBA star and one who combined to score 10 points across the two mini-games for Team Vince: “We weren’t trying to just lay back and cruise.”

The only shame Friday night was that, understandably, NBC prioritized its Olympic coverage for its primetime national broadcast and was forced to relegate the Rising Stars showcase to streaming-only broadcast Peacock, meaning a chunk of fans missed the showcase.

Several players said they noticed the handful of NBA All-Stars who spent their Friday night in the cosmopolitan city of Los Angeles court-side at the Intuit Dome, taking in the Rising Stars competition.

Donovan Mitchell of the Cavaliers, Scottie Barnes of the Raptors, De’Aaron Fox of the Spurs and Tyrese Maxey of the 76ers were all in attendance. All were shown on the jumbotron to applause from the fans in attendance.

It was this last player who, in part, inspired Edgecombe.

“Tyrese is my dog, man,” Edgecombe said. “I was like, he ain’t coming to watch if I ain’t going to play hard. So I was like, I’m going to play hard so at least it’s not a waste of his time.

“I know he has a whole lot of stuff he could probably be doing right now, especially being an All-Star. Tyrese is my dog. I love him.”

Here’s to hoping Maxey and his fellow All-Stars take after these young players to give fans the showcase they deserve.

MILAN — Ilia Malinin finished his long program in tears, not triumph. In the most shockingly devastating performance by a favorite in Olympic figure skating history, the skater who was expected to win the gold medal in the men’s figure skating competition finished eighth.

Yes, eighth.

The Quad God was eighth. 

If anyone ever wondered just how intense Olympic pressure is, well, now we know. Malinin, 21, came into the men’s final with a solid five-point lead. He looked invincible. Then the other skaters closest to him started making all kinds of mistakes, not skating well. What a gift this was for Malinin. All he had to do was land a few of his patented quadruple jumps and the Olympic gold medal was his. 

But he couldn’t do it. Early in the long program, he popped his quad axel into thin air, then doubled a quad loop and fell on other jumps not once but twice. 

‘The pressure of the Olympics really gets you,” Malinin said afterward, answering every question calmly and completely. “The pressure is unreal. It’s almost like I wasn’t aware of where I was in the program. Usually I have more time and more feeling of how it is, but this time, it all went by so fast, and I really didn’t have time to make those changes or make that process different.”

The skater most in control of the sport the past four years was lost on the ice.

‘Coming into the free program, I was really confident,” he said, “just really feeling good about it, and then it’s like it’s right there, and it just left your hands.’

Malinin was so loose going into the final group of skaters for the long program that he teasingly faked doing a backflip as he walked out for his warmup, shaking a finger to the audience as if to say, not yet. Who does that as they march out for the most nerve-wracking moment of their lives? No one, except Malinin. 

But then he had a long wait through the five other skaters right behind him in the standings, 40 minutes in all. Something happened when he came out for his long program. His face looked tense. His bravado was gone. He looked worried, nervous. 

When the mistakes started happening, he couldn’t stop them. 

‘My life has been through a lot of ups and downs, and just before getting into my starting pose, I just felt all of those experiences, memories, thoughts really just rush in, and it just felt so overwhelming. I didn’t really know how to handle it in that moment,” he said.

Delightfully brash, but always with an impish smile, Malinin had been preparing for this moment for quite a few years, winning the last four U.S. titles and last two world championships. He hadn’t lost a competition since 2023. He had welcomed and even embraced the pressure building along the way. It had all been part of his dream.

Until that dream turned into a nightmare.

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CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – Growing up in Park City, Utah, home of several sports for the 2002 Winter Olympics, Ashley Farquharson was surprised to learn not everyone in America knew what luge was.

Not every child grows up lying flat on their backs and sliding down an ice track feet first under six Gs of pressure?

As she’s gotten older, Farquharson has realized her experience was the unique one. With access to the same venues used in 2002 and after school programs like the Youth Sports Alliance (YSA), 41 Park City athletes are competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Farquharson, 26, said she’s part of the first generation to benefit from 2002’s legacy.

Looking ahead to 2034, when the Olympics return to Utah, Farquharson is passionate about making winter sports more accessible. Team USA’s third women’s luge medalist could be anywhere right now. So, what does increasing accessibility to winter sports look like?

“It looks like dismantling systems that have monetized it for their own personal gain,” Farquharson told USA TODAY. “Not only is it becoming inaccessible because of climate change and because of capitalism, but also because kids are being forced to specialize so early. So there’s a lot of components that go into it, but I want youth to know that if they want to pursue a sport, it will be possible for them, and it should be fun for them.”

A 2015 study out of Harvard defines sport specialization as “year-round training (greater than 8 months per year), choosing a single main sport, and/or quitting all other sports to focus on 1 sport.” The same study found that specialized training in young athletes leads to increased risk of injury and burnout. 

A 2020 study in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine found highly specialized athletes had 1.72 times greater odds of injury. Johns Hopkins Medicine reported that an estimated 70% of young athletes quit organized sports by age 13, and athletes who specialize at a young age are at risk of mental health problems like depression, stress, anxiety, unhealthy perfectionism and associating winning with self-worth. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommends delaying specialization until late adolescence, or 15-16 years old.

That’s about the age Farquharson decided to take luge more seriously, leaving behind a promising softball career in favor of Olympic pursuits. “I did love softball,” she said. “I do miss it still.”

Coaches told her she could’ve earned a college scholarship, but her family reminded her she could go to college whenever. She’s currently pursuing a business degree from Purdue.

“Don’t let the idea that you have to go to college right now hold you back from something potentially greater,” they said.

Farquharson wants athletes to know specializing any earlier than 15-16 would risk damaging their bodies before they have a chance to grow into them.

“When you’re a kid, you’re still developing every possible form of athleticism, right? It’s not like you need to have super fast sprints when you’re 7. You don’t even have legs yet!

“So I guess I would just say that it’s OK to not be good at something and still enjoy it. It’s OK not to be good at something and still want to pursue it. And it’s OK to do more than one thing.”

Skeleton Olympian Mystique Ro broke it down in aGoFundMepost last month.

Each season, she wrote, costs “well over $25,000.” Logistics – such as flights, rental cars, lodging – around $12,000; Training – gym fees, sliding fees and race fees – around $6,000; Nutrition – supplements and food – around $5,000-$7,000; and equipment, more than $11,000. 

“There are pieces of our sled (runners) that cost $700-1,000 per set,” she added. “One training run down the track costs, on average, 45 euro/trip.” As the top-ranked U.S. skeleton athlete regardless of gender, Ro posted on TikTok in July that she received a team-high stipend of $2,250 per month, or $27,000 per year.

Then there’s climate change. A 2024 study published in Current Issues in Tourism found that of 93 past and potential Winter Olympics and Paralympic host cities, only 52 would be reliable for the Games. Even if countries live up to their policies and pledges, which isn’t guaranteed. 

All the more reason Utah’s existing infrastructure is crucial for Team USA’s Winter Olympic pipeline. The same way NCAA sports are touted as a feeder system for the Summer Games, YSA’s Get Out & Play and ACTiV8 programs give children in Park City the opportunity to try winter sports. More than 3,200 children participate annually, up from 800 when YSA first began after the 2002 Games.

Seven athletes competing in 2026 participated in YSA’s Get Out & Play program or received direct funding from the alliance. Another 17 came up through YSA-affiliated clubs.

Farquharson has been sliding since age 11, having enrolled in YSA while attending Ecker Hill Middle School. Now she’s part of the White Castle USA Luge Slider Search, the program’s largest national recruiting effort established in 1985 to extend luge’s reach. Athletes age 10-13 are targeted and taught positioning, steering and stopping on wheeled sleds at stops around the country. 

Those who show the most promise are invited to Lake Placid, New York; Muskegon, Michigan; or Park City for an opportunity to slide on ice and be selected to the next year’s development team.

As far as her participation in a home Games eight years from now, Farquharson said she “can’t rule it out,” though competing at 34 “feels like a big ask.

“It would definitely be a very cool full-circle moment for me.”

Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.

MILAN − Lindsey Vonn posted another injury update following her devastating crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics, saying she has more surgeries on deck.

In an Instagram video shared on Friday, Feb. 13, the downhill skier thanked people who have been sending her flowers and gifts, saying, ‘It’s just been so amazing and really helped me a lot,’ before detailing what’s next in her recovery.

‘It’s been a quite hard few days here in the hospital here. I’m finally feeling more like myself, but I have a long way to go,’ Vonn said. ‘Tomorrow, I’ll have another surgery and hopefully that goes well. Then I can potentially leave and go back home, at which point I’ll need another surgery. Don’t know exactly what that entails until I get some better imaging.

‘That’s kind of where I’m at right now. I am just in the hospital, very much immobile, but I have a lot of friends and family coming to visit,’ she said.

Vonn has already undergone three surgeries since the crash. The surgery she said she is scheduled for Saturday will mark four and a fifth is slated for when she is able to return home. She thanked the medical team for starting the road to her recovery, and offered some words of encouragement to the rest of the U.S. Olympians in Milano Cortina.

‘Go Team USA, it’s been great to watch and really lifted my spirit,’ Vonn said.

What happened to Lindsey Vonn?

Vonn hooked the fourth gate with her right arm, which sent her spinning and hurtling into the hard, packed snow. She tumbled end over end several times before coming to a stop.

‘Things just happen so quick in this sport,’ U.S. teammate Bella Wright said after the race. ‘It looked like Lindsey had incredible speed out of that turn, and she hooked her arm and it’s just over just like that.’

The three-time Olympic medalist remained prone in the snow, and she could be heard wailing in pain. The gasps and groans from fans faded into shocked silence as medics worked on her. Vonn remained on the course for approximately 13 minutes before being loaded into a helicopter.

What is Lindsey Vonn’s injury?

In an Instagram post on Feb. 9, Vonn shared the devastating news that she suffered a complex tibia fracture that will require multiple surgeries. The 41-year-old updated fans on Feb. 11 after a third surgery in Italy and included some gruseome photos of her progress .

A tibia fracture is a break in the shin bone that is an emergency needing immediate treatment. ‘Your tibias are some of the strongest bones in your body. It usually takes a lot of force to break one,’ according to the Cleveland Clinic. ‘You probably won’t be able to stand, walk or put weight on your leg if you have a broken shin bone.’

A complex fracture involves multiple breaks in a bone and damaged soft tissue, according Yale Medicine. Symptoms include extreme pain, numbness and, sometimes, a bone that protrudes through the skin. Treatment involves stabilization and surgery.

Lindsey Vonn crash video

NBC broadcasts the Olympics and posted video of Vonn’s crash .

USA TODAY Sports’ Samantha Cardona-Norberg breaks down Linsdey Vonn’s crash just after it happened.

Fans went silent as soon as Vonn crash, reacting with shock, grief and later support as the helicopter lifted her into the sky. USA TODAY Sports talked to some fans after the crash .

Is Lindsey Vonn OK?

Vonn was in obvious pain after the crash, but she was moving her arms, head and neck.

About 18 minutes after the crash, the helicopter slowly began flying toward Cortina. ‘Let’s let Lindsey Vonn hear us!’ the American announcer said as the chopper flew away with her, and the crowd cheered and applauded.

Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow was at the course today for the downhill and spoke to NBC reporters during their live broadcast:

‘I mean that definitely was the last thing we wanted to see and it happened quick and when that happens, you’re just immediately hoping she’s okay. And it was scary because when you start to see the stretchers being put out, it’s not a good sign,’ Kildow said. ‘But she really … She just dared greatly and she put it all out there. So it’s really hard to see, but we just really hope she’s okay.

‘She does have all of her surgeons and her PT staff here and her doctors, so I’m sure they’ll give us a report and we’ll meet her at whatever hospital she’s at.’

Lindsey Vonn torn ACL

It was second time in as many weeks Vonn left a mountaintop on a chopper. She fully ruptured her left ACL, sustaining meniscus damage and bone bruising , in a downhill crash on Jan. 30, in the final World Cup event prior to the start of the Olympics.

Vonn is also skiing with a partial replacement of her right knee. She had dominated the sport before the crash, making the podium in all five downhill races this season and winning two of them.

Despite the latest injury, Vonn was determined to race at her fifth and final Olympics. She said her knee felt stable and strong, and she had spent the last week doing intense rehab , pool workouts, weight lifting and plyometrics. She skied both training runs, posting the third-fastest time in the second run before it was canceled because of fog and snow.

Lindsey Vonn torn ACL

Vonn is 41 and was skiing in her fifth Winter Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010, 2018, 2026). She has won three Olympic medals (1 gold, 2 bronze).

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — The Ukrainian skeleton racer disqualified from the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics over his remembrance helmet has received his country’s Order of Freedom.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Vladyslav Heraskevych with the honor during a meeting in Munich, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 13, hours after the Court of Arbitration for Sport denied the athlete’s appeal of his disqualification. CAS said that while it sympathized with Heraskevych’s wish to memorialize athletes killed in Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine, the helmet was a violation of the International Olympic Committee’s ban on political statements on the field of play.

‘Remembrance is not a violation,’ Zelenskyy wrote in a social media post that included photos of him meeting with Heraskevych and his father, Mykhailo, who is also his coach.

‘Ukraine will always have champions and Olympians. But above all, Ukraine’s greatest asset is Ukrainians – those who cherish the truth and the memory of the athletes killed by Russia, athletes who will never compete again because of the Russian aggression,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘Thank you for your stance, your strength, and your courage. Glory to Ukraine!’

Heraskevych’s helmet has images of more than 20 athletes and coaches killed since Russia invaded Ukraine almost four years ago. They include figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, who competed with Heraskevych during the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.

The IOC had told Heraskevych repeatedly he could not wear the helmet during competition and offered him alternatives, including a black armband while he raced and the ability to carry the helmet with him afterward. But Heraskevych resisted, saying the helmet was a remembrance, not a political statement.

He met with IOC president Kirsty Coventry Thursday, Feb. 12, hours before the men’s skeleton competition was to begin. When he said he still intended to wear the helmet, he was disqualified.

Heraskevych’s case has roiled the Winter Olympics, with his defenders saying this is yet another example of the IOC going out of its way to accommodate Russia. Ukrainian athletes in other sports, as well as some of Heraskevych’s competitors, have knelt in protest or expressed their support for his cause.

This is not the first time Heraskevych has used his Olympic platform to protest Russia’s aggression toward his country. He displayed a small sign with ‘No war in Ukraine’ after his final run at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks later.