BORMIO – Atle Lie McGrath’s gold-medal hopes in the Olympic slalom slipped away. His ski poles were then thrown away. And then he simply stumbled away through the snow toward the woods.
It was all part of an epic Olympic meltdown that turned Monday's race into high-tragic theater.
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“I thought that I would get some peace and quiet, which I didn’t,” the Norwegian ski racer said of his retreat from the course after losing out on a medal. “Because photographers and police found me out in the woods. But I just needed some time for myself.”
McGrath, who was born in Vermont but grew up in Norway, entered the final run of the final men’s race at the Milan Cortina Games with a big lead in his best event. But after straddling a gate, McGrath lost a medal and then control of his emotions in a race won by Loic Meillard of Switzerland.
The 25-year-old McGrath tossed each pole over the safety netting lining the Stelvio course. He then climbed the fencing on the other side of the course and made his way through the snow to the edge of the wilderness, where he laid on his back.
McGrath later arrived in the finish area and walked away without talking. More than two hours later, he met the media at a nearby Bormio hotel.
“I’m normally a guy that’s very good when it comes to perspective on things,” said McGrath, whose father, Felix, competed for the U.S. ski team at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. “And if I don’t ski well in a race, I can at least tell myself that I’m healthy and my family’s healthy and the people I love are here. So that’s nice, but that’s not been the case. I’ve lost someone I love so much and that makes it really hard.”
McGrath has been racing with a heavy heart, with his grandfather dying the day of the opening ceremony. He wore an armband as a tribute.
“What he’s gone through these last 10, 12 days, it’s been really tough,” said teammate Timon Haugan, who finished fourth in Monday's race. “He’s been really sad. He started to do better and today he’s going through ... we need to really back him up today.”
McGrath was close to a medal, too. Very close. His mistake happened right in front of a Swiss coach standing on the course, whose celebration for Meillard’s now-guaranteed gold medal caused the team to later apologize to the Norwegians.
“I gave myself the absolute best opportunity you could today,” McGrath said. “I skied so great, and I still couldn’t get it done. So that’s what really hurts.”
Haugan felt for him.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” he said. “He's doing everything perfect. He did a very good first run, put himself in a position to win the Olympic gold. He does everything right and then that happens in 15 seconds."
Bronze medalist Henrik Kristoffersen, McGrath's Norwegian teammate, knows the feeling. Kristoffersen was leading the slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games only to ski out in the second run.
“In the end, it’s another ski race. In the end, it’s not going to make or break Atle's career,” Kristoffersen said. "He is a great skier. If he keeps going like he’s going, he will have great success for the future. This is just our sport.
“That’s how it goes sometimes. I’ve been in this exact same position, and done the same thing (skied out). And yes, it hurts. But it is what it is.”
The emotional outburst?
“That's allowed,” Kristoffersen said. “This is sports. What are sports without the emotions?”
Meillard echoed that thought. It's a fickle discipline, where a racer weaves through a tight course set.
“The beauty of slalom is that when it works out it’s beautiful," Meillard said. "I was definitely sorry for him, but at the end, all the times he won when I skied out — that’s part of the game.”
For McGrath, there won't be anymore alone time.
“I spent my time in the woods,” McGrath said with a laugh. "So now I’m going to spend time with the people I love and that’s all I need.
“I think I need quite a bit of time to process this and it’s going to be extremely tough. We’ll see how it goes, but at least I’m surrounded by great people who love me and who I love. I’m at least happy that they’ll be here.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics