Mother Nature shook the Bormio snow globe mightily on Monday as the world’s top Alpine skiers carved through blizzard conditions in Run 1 of the men’s Olympic slalom.
Atle Lie McGrath (NOR) most successfully navigated the treacherous course, posting the fastest Run 1 time out of the massive 96-racer field. He clocked in at a leading 56.14.
Two-time 2026 Winter Olympic medalist Loic Meillard (SUI) continued his blistering skiing, finishing a little over half a second behind McGrath (+0.59).
Austria’s Fabio Gstrein, who cracked the top 10 twice during the 2025-26 World Cup season, placed 3rd (+0.94).
The most dominating force at the Stelvio Alpine Skiing Centre Monday was undoubtedly the snow.
From the moment the first athlete (McGrath) left the starting gate, it fell intensely from the sky, piled up rapidly on the piste and never stopped. You could see course crew step in and quickly try to shovel away some of the snow after a racer passed by. Visibility was also, unsurprisingly, poor.
Ultimately, the storm caused, or at least played a role in, 49 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, DNF'd. The list goes on.
Timon Haugan (NOR), Armand Marchant (BEL) and Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) remained within striking distance of the podium position (all a second or less behind third). The same could be said about Marco Schwarz (AUT) and defending slalom Olympic gold medalist Clement Noel (FRA).
If Run 1 taught us anything, it's that no one is safe from a DNF on Monday and expect the unexpected in tricky terrain.
Tune into Run 2 of the men's Olympic slalom at 7:30 a.m. ET, streaming live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.