An American-born alpine skier took his failure to win Winter Olympic gold badly as he crashed out in the men’s slalom – storming off into the woods on the edge of the slopes in Italy.

Atle Lie McGrath, who was racing to win Norway’s first gold in this event in 28 years, had been leading but crashed out on the final lap to spark an incredible tantrum.

The 25-year-old threw his poles, took off his skis and stormed straight towards the woods alone before lying down alone in the snow. 

After several minutes trying to gather his composure he was escorted down to the finish area. 

McGrath has been racing with a heavy heart, with his grandfather dying the day of the opening ceremony – and he wore an armband as a tribute on Monday. Norwegian media claim that his behaviour was sparked when a Swiss coach of rival Loic Meillard, who took the gold, celebrated his crash wildly.

Meillard was trailing McGrath by 0.59 seconds when the incident happened. 

Alpine skier Atle Lie McGrath stormed off into the woods after missing out on the gold medal 

McGrath is seen taking a seat at the boundary on the slopes in deep disappointment

McGrath’s reaction came after he did not completed his second run of the men’s slalom

Team-mate Timon Haugan told Norwegian broadcaster NRK: ‘You feel empty inside and it’s hard to describe. It hurts so much. A terrible feeling. I’m very sorry for Atle.’

Atle’s anger was picked out as being in response to the Swiss reaction, which was called ‘horrible’ on Norwegian TV.

Pundit Kjetil Andre Aamodt said: ‘It was a bit unsportsmanlike. I wouldn’t have taken it from the Swiss coach. I understand he’s happy, but they’ve already won three Olympic gold medals.

‘It was special, but it’s probably intuitive then and there. I don’t think he meant anything bad by it.’

Meillard finished in a two-run combined time of one minute and 53.61 seconds. He edged Fabio Gstrein of Austria by 0.35 seconds, while Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway took bronze. It was quite a contrast of runs, too, with snow and fog in the morning and the sun peeking out for the afternoon. 

Norwegian media say his fall was followed by a huge celebration by a Swiss coach (centre)

McGrath was leading by 0.59 seconds and looked on course for the gold medal before his fall

The heavy snow led to a tricky morning of racing. The competition featured 96 racers in the field, with many representing nontraditional ski nations. 

Of the 96 racers, there were 49 who didn’t finish the course, two who were disqualified and another who didn’t start.