Norwegian alpine skier Lucas Bråthen, who unexpectedly announced his retirement in October, is believed to return to the alpine slopes next season.
“Well, soon, in alpine skiing, the medal countries will be more exotic countries like Greece and Brazil.”
Such a statement thrown as a joke is starting to materialize month by month. After all, Greece is already a medal country when the United States switched to Greece AJ Guinness celebrated World Cup silver in slalom last year at the World Championships in France. Now also rumours by Lucas Bråthen from returning to the alpine slopes in the colors of Brazil have only gotten stronger the further the season progresses.
Swiss magazine Blick according to Bråthen has been training with, among others, World Cup skiers AJ Ginnis of Greece and Briton Charlie Raposon with, which raises expectations for the return of a splash of color on the alpine slopes.
Interviewed by Blick, Ginnis has admitted that he trained with Bråthen before the Madonna di Campiglio evening slalom in December.
– Lucas trained with me in Hinterreit, Austria. He made a great and motivated impression on me. That’s why I’m convinced that Lucas will compete again next season, says Ginnis.
Also a Swiss slalom star Daniel Yule believes in Bråthen’s return after hearing about his strong training effort.
– If I had ended my career, I certainly wouldn’t be training seriously three months later. I don’t think Bråthen trains just for fun. I’m ready to bet a lot that he will compete again next winter, Yule says in an interview with Blick.
Bråthen, who celebrated the victory of the slalom cup last year, shocked the alpine people by announcing before the start of the season that he would end his racing career. The reason was, among other things, sponsor disputes with the Norwegian federation. According to Blick, Bråthen would no longer be a part of the Norwegian national team, but the 23-year-old scorer also has Brazilian citizenship on his mother’s side.
Alpine skiing is not a completely new sport in Brazil, of course, but success has been few and far between. Over the years, the country has had skiers participating both in prestigious competitions and in the World Cup. The best result in the prize competitions is Nikolai Hentsch 30th place in the 2006 Torino Games giant slalom.
The alpine skiing World Cup season continues today and tomorrow in Schladming with giant slalom and slalom competitions. You can watch the race on ‘s channels. Finns are taking part in the men’s giant slalom today Eduard Hallberg and we’ll see you at the competition on Wednesday Jesper Pohjolainen.