Levi slalom: Pinheiro Braathen is the first man to win in Levi twice in a row
The south slope of Levi fell in Lapland, Finland, in January 2023. Photo: DanielMichaelPerry via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen of Brazil won the first men's World Cup slalom of the 2026-27 season in Levi, Finland, on Sunday 15 November 2026. He also won in Levi in November 2025, and no man had won the Levi slalom twice in a row before him. Clément Noël of France finished second, 0.56 seconds behind, and Loïc Meillard of Switzerland third, 0.73 seconds behind. Pinheiro Braathen races on Atomic skis.
In short
- Pinheiro Braathen led after the first run by 0.65 seconds and won in 1:48.04.
- It is his 10th World Cup win and his second win in two races this season, after the Sölden giant slalom on 25 October.
- Noël was second on Dynastar skis; it is his fourth Levi podium in a row.
- Meillard moved from eighth to third with the second-fastest second run.
- Atomic and Head skis each carried 6 of the 22 finishers.
How the race went
Pinheiro Braathen started with bib 7 and set the fastest first run in 52.69 seconds. Noël was 0.65 seconds behind him, and Joshua Sturm of Austria was third from bib 27, Ski Racing reported after the first run.
In the second run, Pinheiro Braathen had only the ninth-fastest time, but his lead was large enough. He won by 0.56 seconds over Noël, according to the official FIS result list. Sturm and William Hansson of Sweden, third and fifth after the first run, did not finish the second run.
| Place | Skier | Nation | Skis | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucas Pinheiro Braathen | BRA | Atomic | 1:48.04 |
| 2 | Clément Noël | FRA | Dynastar | +0.56 |
| 3 | Loïc Meillard | SUI | Rossignol | +0.73 |
| 4 | Fabian Ax Swartz | SWE | Van Deer | +0.86 |
| 5 | Alex Vinatzer | ITA | Atomic | +0.87 |
| 6 | Paco Rassat | FRA | Head | +0.89 |
| 7 | Atle Lie McGrath | NOR | Head | +1.10 |
| 8 | Eduard Hallberg | FIN | Fischer | +1.29 |
| 9 | Samuel Kolega | CRO | Rossignol | +1.31 |
| 10 | Albert Popov | BUL | Nordica | +1.51 |
Meillard, the Olympic slalom champion, was eighth after the first run, 1.08 seconds behind. Only Pinheiro Braathen and Noël finished ahead of him in the end. It is his second podium in two races this winter, after second place in Sölden, the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS wrote in a report on watson.ch. Alex Vinatzer of Italy had the fastest second run, 54.42 seconds, and finished fifth.
A first in Levi
Pinheiro Braathen won in Levi on 16 November 2025. That race was his first World Cup win for Brazil and the first Alpine World Cup win for the country. Before this race, no man had won the Levi slalom two times in a row, according to the FIS statistics for the race. Skiactu.ch also called him the first slalom skier to do this on the Levi Black run.
The FIS database lists 10 World Cup wins for Pinheiro Braathen: 5 for Norway until 2023, and 5 for Brazil since November 2025. Five of the 10 are slaloms. With two Levi wins, he is now one behind Marcel Hirscher, who won the Levi slalom three times.
Noël was also second in Levi in November 2025 and won the race in November 2024. Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, the skier with the most Levi podiums, finished nineteenth.
The skis on the podium
The FIS result list names the ski brand of every racer. Of the 22 skiers who finished both runs, 6 raced on Atomic, 6 on Head, 4 on Rossignol and 2 on Van Deer. Dynastar, Fischer, Nordica and Salomon had one finisher each.
| Brand | Finishers | Top 10 | Best place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atomic | 6 | 2 | 1 (Pinheiro Braathen) |
| Head | 6 | 2 | 6 (Rassat) |
| Rossignol | 4 | 2 | 3 (Meillard) |
| Van Deer | 2 | 1 | 4 (Ax Swartz) |
| Dynastar | 1 | 1 | 2 (Noël) |
| Fischer | 1 | 1 | 8 (Hallberg) |
| Nordica | 1 | 1 | 10 (Popov) |
| Salomon | 1 | 0 | 20 (Aulnette) |
Ax Swartz started with bib 25 and gave Van Deer its best result of the day. Kristoffersen raced on Van Deer skis last season and is on Head skis this season. Levi was his first World Cup slalom on the new brand. For Austria, the day was poor: Sturm, Fabio Gstrein, Simon Rueland and Michael Matt did not finish the second run, and Johannes Strolz in twenty-second place was the best Austrian.
The next men's slalom is in Gurgl, Austria, on the weekend of 21–22 November 2026. Levi was the first of 13 slaloms on the World Cup calendar this winter.
What this means for your skis
The skis in Levi are race skis, built to the FIS rules for World Cup slalom. The four brands on the podium and in fourth place also make a slalom ski for groomed runs, with a short radius of about 12–13 m. It suits skiers who want quick short turns on groomed, hard snow.
| Ski | Waist | Radius (length) |
|---|---|---|
| Atomic Redster S9 | 66.1 mm | 12.1 m (165 cm) |
| Dynastar Speed Omeglass Master SL R22 | 69 mm | 13 m (165 cm) |
| Rossignol Hero Master ST | 66.5 mm | 13.3 m (165 cm) |
| Van Deer SL | 67.5 mm | 12.5 m (165 cm) |
The figures are the makers' own; we compare them, we do not ski the products. To find the right ski for your level, use the Pick-a-Ski ski finder.
