Photo: Marte Gundersen
On Friday, the ski star announced that he is quitting. In this interview, Lucas Braathen tells about the conflict with the Norwegian Skiing Association, what gives him joy and the surprising future dream.
Published: 25/10/2023 14:05 | Updated: 28/10/2023 15:15
On Friday 27 October, Braathen announced that he was giving up as an alpinist.
– I’m finished. For the first time in years I feel free, he said.
A magazine has followed the ski star in the weeks before the press conference. In this exclusive interview, he talks about ups and downs, the conflict with the Skiing Association, why he likes to wear skirts – and the surprising future dream.
Slalom does not change the world
– I am the next one, declared the rather unknown teenager Lucas Braathen cheerfully after the surprising fourth place in the slalom race in Kitzbühel in January 2020. He had been asked by a reporter in the finish area about who he is.
Now, almost four years later, he is the world’s best slalom racer.
But it is not enough for the 23-year-old, who has now announced that he is giving up as an alpine climber.
– You don’t change the world by speeding around red plastic gates, he says.
On Tuesday 26 September, he wrings off his T-shirt at home in his apartment on Frogner in Oslo. Then Lucas Braathen spreads the baris across the floor to “find something more comfy”.
An entire wall in the hallway is covered in shoes. Many of them are sponsored, but some he has bought himself. Like what he calls the depression shoes: A pair of thick-soled Prada sneakers.
– I consoled them when I lost a ski race to Henrik Kristoffersen, he says.
The shoes are not particularly worn.
The interior is stark, with black leather chairs and a concrete wall. A dead plant hangs with its head by the DJ table in the living room. On the bookshelf are self-help books with titles such as “A simple life”, “Mind and body”, “8 rules of love” (written by a 35-year-old monk who became a life coach and influencer).
And there! In a corner, Lucas Braathen has stuffed prizes and used ski suits. He doesn’t want it to be the first thing people encounter when they enter the living room.
The mobile lights up from the kitchen counter. Maybe it’s the boyfriend. She is from Rome, but lives in Paris. They met at a nightclub in Copenhagen.
– I was completely captivated by her, he glows.
– What did you fall for?
– The afro, I think. It was so fat!
Read the whole story with a subscription
Already a subscriber? sign in
2023-10-28 19:01:33
#Opens #ups #downs #conflict #surprising #future #dream
