BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen leads the Olympic giant slalom Saturday after the first of two runs and is in position to win South America’s first medal at a Winter Games.

There are a host of lower-tier racers still to finish the first run in a field that includes 81 competitors, with many representing nontraditional ski nations. The final run will be held later Saturday. The top 30 will go in reverse order based on time, meaning Pinheiro Braathen races at No. 30.

The first skier on the Stelvio course, Pinheiro Braathen took advantage of the smooth surface to finish in a time of 1 minute, 13.92 seconds. His fast run resulted in a 0.95-second lead over Swiss racer Marco Odermatt, who’s the defending Olympic champion in the event.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing and AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics