I'm extremely proud of myself, says Lucas Pinheiro Braathen to VG after the World Cup premiere.
It's easy to understand after the Norwegian-Brazilian's comeback.
Despite missing the podium – and only becoming the fourth best Norwegian.
I can't even explain how much is behind all this. How much fear that has existed. And then I get to stand here and dance in front of 10,000 people. I'm so grateful, says Braathen.
Alexander Steen Olsen won the premiere, 65 hundredths ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen and another ahead of Atle Lie McGrath.
It feels completely crazy. To share the podium with two other Norwegians is completely incredible, says Alexander Steen Olsen in Viaplay's broadcast.
Danced samba
But it's hard to ignore Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who two days before last year's premiere announced that he was retiring due to a sponsor conflict with the Norwegian Ski Association.
The comeback comes after he switched to his mother's home country, Brazil – and the 24-year-old offered a show directly.
He made it through to the next round with a good margin in the first run – 19th place, 1.68 seconds behind Norway's Alexander Steen Olsen – and then delivered the best second run of the entire field.
After crossing the finish line, Braathen danced some samba steps with a concluding pirouette, and then saw how he only climbed and climbed in the results list.
"Couldn't believe it"
So did William Hansson, who had the second-best time in the second run and achieved his best World Cup performance in his career with a fine 18th place.
It's sick. I couldn't believe it when I woke up this morning, that it would be like this, says the Swede.
Through this, he beat one of the sport's all-time greatest.
Marcel Hirscher, who has won the overall World Cup a record number of times (8), made a comeback after five years.
The 35-year-old Austrian is now competing for his mother's home country, the Netherlands, and received a wildcard for the premiere. And Hirscher showed that he still knows how to ski – to the great joy of the Austrian audience.
A broadly smiling Hirscher crossed the finish line after the first run just over two seconds behind leader Steen Olsen, and made it through as 28th out of 30 skiers. He then climbed to a final 23rd place.
