Asa Miller during one of his training sessions at the National Alpine Skiing Center on Xiaohaituo Mountain in China for the Winter Olympics. | Photo from Philippine Olympic Committee.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Filipino-American skier Asa Miller trains smoothly in the National Alpine Skiing Center on Xiaohaituo Mountain on Sunday to prepare for his Winter Olympics campaign on February 13, 2022, in the men’s giant slalom event.
Miller, the Philippines lone entry in the Winter Olympics, had already finished five full training sessions at the venue after arriving in Beijing a week ago.
“Today’s training was good,” said Miller, the 21-year-old two-time Olympian.
“No soreness and less pain this time,” he said.
Asa has been accompanied by his father Kelly during his training routines.
“His fifth day [training] was good. He had a few good training runs,” said Kelly.
The Portland-based Asa Miller will compete in the men’s giant slalom starting at 10 a.m. on February 13 and will return three days later for the slalom also at 10 a.m.
Miller took the day off last Friday to rest his muscles and attend the opening ceremony in Beijing.
But while at the Olympic Village, he still conditions his muscles in the gym.
“I still train at the village, focusing mostly on my legs, core strength, and stability,” said Miller.
Organizers moved the men’s training on Sunday to the afternoon session to give priority to the women athletes who whose event comes on Monday.
Thus, Sunday morning was sort of a rest day for Miller, an economics major at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah and relaxed a bit by listening to his favorite pop alternative music.
Meanwhile, the organizers face several challenges at the venue. The lack of snow forced the organizers to utilize their snowmaking equipment to produce artificial snow while strong winds forced them to reschedule the men’s downhill skiing event to another day.
However, Kelly, reassured everyone that they were fine, saying that the side of the mountain where the slalom events were happening were not affected by the wind.
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