Mother Nature made her presence felt during the men’s slalom event in Bormio on Monday, but by the time the blizzard subsided and the fresh snow settled, Loic Meillard (SUI) emerged as an Olympic gold medalist. He clocked in with a total time of 1 minute, 53.61 seconds.
With the victory, Meillard claimed his third medal of the 2026 Winter Games, completing an Olympic hat trick. He joined his fellow countrymen Franjo von Allmen (SUI) and Marco Odermatt (SUI) in accomplishing the remarkable feat.
The 29-year-old's hardware-filled week began with a silver in the team combined, bronze in the giant slalom, and now gold in the slalom.
"It was definitely a dream, something I worked hard the last few weeks to achieve," Meillard told NBC's Heather Cox. "The goal was to leave the Olympics with three medals, three races, but to leave with the gold in slalom, I can't describe the feeling."
Austria’s Fabio Gstrein, who cracked the top 10 twice during the 2025-26 World Cup season, secured silver (+0.35). It was the Soelden native's maiden Olympic medal.
Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) collected the second Olympic medal of his career, this one a bronze (+1.13).
While Meillard made history in Bormio, it was heartbreak for Atle Lie McGrath (NOR). The 25-year-old held a commanding lead going into the second run after posting the fastest time in the first. He was up by almost six-tenths of a second.
McGrath straddled a gate early into Run 2 and proceeded to melt down. He tossed his poles in frustration, removed his shin guards and laid in the snow after storming off the Stelvio course through the netting.
McGrath, who was born in Burlington, Vermont, but represents Norway (his mom is Norwegian), skied with a heavy heart throughout the Games. He posted on social media that his grandfather passed away during the Opening Ceremony.
It was a tale of two starkly different races packed into Monday’s slalom, and not just for McGrath. The entire 96-athlete field was forced to carve through blizzard conditions in Run 1.
The Stelvio Ski Centre looked like a shaken snow globe, as snow fell intensely from the sky, piled up rapidly on the piste and continued for over an hour. You could see course crew step in and quickly try to shovel it to the side after a racer passed by. Visibility was also, unsurprisingly, poor.
Ultimately, the storm caused, or at least played a role in, 49 Run 1 DNFs (did not finishes). That's a 51 percent clip, abnormally high for a slalom. Crossing the finish line was an accomplishment in itself.
Among the DNFers was Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA), who recorded the quickest Sector 1 and Sector 2 times before slipping and missing a gate. The 25-year-old emerged victorious in Saturday's giant slalom, becoming the first athlete representing a South American nation to earn a medal of any kind at the Winter Olympics.
Paco Rassat (FRA), a multi-time Cup winner this season, also skied out. So too did upstart Eduard Hallberg (FIN), veteran Manuel Feller (AUT) and home country hero Alex Vinatzer (ITA). The lone American competing, River Radamus, also DNF'd. The list went on.
Meillard was one of the athletes that truly remained within striking distance heading into the second run — and strike he did.
The pristine, blizzard-less conditions served the skiers left standing well, at large. Only two in the top 30 DNF'd and despite a majority of Run 1 racers not qualifying, a breadth of countries were represented in Run 2 as a result. The first 14 athletes were all from different nations, including Haiti (Richardson Viano), Japan (Shiro Aihara) and Lithuania (Andrej Drukarov).
Ultimately, it was Meillard who reigned supreme and will leave the Games with a rainbow of Olympic medals.
On Wednesday, Mikaela Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan and the world’s top technical skiers have one more opportunity to go for gold in the women’s slalom. Run 1 of the final Alpine skiing event of the 2026 Winter Olympics starts at 4 a.m. ET, followed by Run 2 at 7:30 a.m. ET. Both will stream live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.