Sao Paulo, Feb. 17 -- In a landmark moment for Brazilian winter sport, alpine skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen secured the country's first-ever Winter Olympics medal and a gold after winning the giant slalom at the Milan-Cortina Games on Saturday, as cited by Brasil 247.

The giant slalom features two timed runs down a snow course marked by widely spaced poles known as gates, roughly 25 metres apart. Athletes must pass between them, with the lowest combined time determining the winner.

Born in Oslo to a Norwegian father and Brazilian mother, the 25-year-old clocked a combined time of 2 minutes 25 seconds, finishing 0.58 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, who took silver. Fellow Swiss skier Loic Meillard secured bronze.

Braathen...