By Shadia Nasralla
YANQING, China (Reuters) – Norway’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Atle Lie McGrath were born two days apart and have somehow managed to mirror each others careers to an eerie degree, a feat they hope to crown with Olympic medals in the upcoming giant slalom and slalom races.
Currently the number one on the slalom World Cup circuit, 21-year-old Braathen has spent more time training and living with Alpine ski team mate McGrath than without him.
“Our journey started at the age of eleven. It’s been all the ups and downs from that point on,” half-Brazilian, half-Norwegian Braathen told reporters ahead of the their runs in the giant slalom scheduled for Sunday and slalom for Wednesday.
They entered the European Cup at the same time having had their World Cup debuts within days of each other, and also climbed their first podiums in the same season. Last year in January, they suffered their first serious injuries on the same day, in the same race at the Adelboden giant slalom.
“Until today it’s been quite the journey and it is the journey it has been because we’ve been doing it together and I think we’re depending on each other. I think our progression has a lot to do with the way we work since the age of 11 and since the day we got injured,” Braathen said.
McGrath, whose parents are former World Cup racer Felix McGrath and cross-country skier Selma Lie, was born in the United States but grew up in Norway. He came second at the slalom in Schladming last month.
“For Lucas and I this is quite an emotional journey and moment, we were injured together in the same race about a year ago. I remember we were sitting there, dreaming and hoping we will be in the Olympics, which has been one of our biggest goals since we were kids,” McGrath said.
When asked about what rituals they have to keep their bond strong, they were quick and clear in their answer: food.
“We always try to eat dinner together, every day,” McGrath said, also pointing to their team mates Henrik Kristoffersen and Rasmus Windingstad.
“(What) makes our team special is that especially in social media it’s really easy to fake things. But when things are genuine and they’re true, it just shines through, it’s easy to see. I feel that we’re genuinely a good team and good friends, and that’s what makes us so strong,” McGrath added.
Older team mate Windingstad and Kristoffersen are going into their upcoming races with absolute confidence in the team and their eyes on the podium.
“Hell yeah. Of course, we’re a strong team. One of the strongest here I’d say. Our goal is definitely medals. If we do our job and focus, all of us here are good enough to do that, already on Sunday. Hopefully you’ll see all four of us top 4,” Windingstad said.
Austria’s Manuel Feller, ranked top 3 in both slalom and giant slalom World Cup standings, said on Friday he was not feeling comfortable on the artificial snow at the Beijing Olympics and did not see himself as a favourite at the Games.
Kristoffersen, 27, said it’s not really a question of whether Norway is going to medal, but where their competitors, such as current giant slalom and overall Alpine World Cup leader Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, will end up.
“He doesn’t have one medal yet. For sure the pressure is on him because everyone and him as well is going to be disappointed if he doesn’t win. So you should put the pressure on him and not us,” Kristoffersen said.
When asked about whether this is a type of psychological warfare, Braathen replied for his team mate, jokingly: “Henrik is experienced, he knows what he’s doing.”
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
