Alpine skiing-Brazil's Pinheiro Braathen takes World Cup giant slalom title

LILLEHAMMER, Norway, March 24 : Brazil's Olympic champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the final giant slalom of the men's Alpine ski season on Tuesday to take the World Cup title from Switzerland's Marco Odermatt.

The Norwegian-born skier started the day 48 points behind Odermatt but took the maximum 100 points from the race in Lillehammer while his Swiss rival failed to finish the first run.

Odermatt, the defending giant slalom champion, had already won the overall, downhill and super-G World Cup titles.

Pinheiro Braathen, who won the slalom World Cup Crystal Globe as a Norwegian in 2023, is also challenging for the slalom title with the final race of the men's season on Wednesday.

The Brazilian was 0.21 faster than Austrian Stefan Brennsteiner in the first run, with Switzerland's Loic Meillard third.

Pinheiro Braathen was only eighth best in the second run but beat Meillard by 0.58 with Norway's Atle Lie McGrath third.