Norwegian alpine skier Atle Lie McGrath had one goal heading into the second run of the men’s slalom final on Feb. 16: maintain his first-place standing, and win an Olympic gold medal in honor of his late grandfather.
When McGrath, 25, came up short in the final seconds of the event, he was crushed, leading to a rather dramatic reaction that has since gone viral.
Upon failing to finish the race after he straddled a gate, thus ending his dreams of a medal, McGrath threw his ski poles out into the distance and stormed off past the course and into the endless snow, eventually ditching his gloves and goggles and lying down on his own.
The U.S.-born athlete later told reporters that he’d never experienced such a low in his entire career.
“It’s not the worst moment of my life, but it’s the worst moment of my career, and it’s been one of the toughest moments of my life with everything that’s been going on,” he said, according to NBC. “I was hoping I was going to be able to crown off this tough period with something good today and I’ve just had to really stand through so much tough stuff. I’m normally a guy that’s very good when it comes to perspective on things. 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.”
Atlie Lie McGrath walks into the snow after his race on Feb. 16 at the 2026 Winter Olympics.Dustin Satloff/Getty
McGrath’s grandfather, Svein Lie, died at age 83 on Feb. 6, the same day as the Milan Cortina Games opening ceremony, and the athlete hoped he would be able to honor him with a gold medal.
McGrath had an impressive first run, with a .59-second cushion heading into the second over the Swiss Loic Meillard, who ultimately took home the gold.
“I gave it everything. Chasing the biggest dream of them all. I tried to pick up the broken pieces of my heart this past week, just for it to break all over again,” he wrote. “Take care of the people you love, you never know how long you have them❤️.”
Lindsey Vonn — who’s also experienced her fair share of disappointment this Olympics — responded with a supportive comment.
“He is proud of you no matter what ❤️,” she wrote.
McGrath previously finished fifth in giant slalom on Feb. 14, and spoke afterward about how difficult the Games have been for him.
“It’s really hard to all of a sudden to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to go ski between some plastic gates down a mountain and make it seem important’, when I’ve lost someone I love so much,” he told reporters. “Lots of tears, and then also the turning point for me was when my family came yesterday. I went from being so sad and almost depressed, to having a genuine smile.”
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.
