Leandro Ribela was 29 years old at the time of these Olympics, and he was making his Olympic debut. He had taken up skiing at the age of 12 following a trip to Argentina. In the 15 kilometre freestyle race, held on 15 February, he finished with a time of 43 minutes and 36.2 seconds. This put him in 90th place, out of 95 competitors who finished the race. He would later represent Brazil again at the 2014 Winter Olympics.