YANQING, China – Asa Miller just couldn’t solve The Ice River and for the second-straight time and in his second consecutive Winter Olympics, got a DNF (Did Not Finish) in the first run of the men’s slalom of Alpine skiing on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
Teary-eyed, Miller walked to the side heads bowed of the track that was cruel on 34 skiers who failed to complete out of the 89 starters.
“I have a fault also,” Miller, who was accompanied by American coach Will Gregorak at the Athletes’ Area before deciding to go by his lonesome to the wax cabin below the finish area, said.
Austrian Johannes Strolz topped the first run by a slim margin over Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen and Sebastian Foss-Solevaag.
Strolz,29, and already a winner of the Alpine combined last week in his first Olympics, clocked 53.92 seconds. Kristoffersenwas .02 seconds behind and Foss-Solevaag by .06.
Miller was flagged off at No. 65. In the end, 52 completed the race while one was disqualified. Another one didn’t start.
“Skiing is one of those things where you have to think about it as a season long thing,” Gregorak said. “Nobody on any given day can guarantee what will happen to skiers or what they do over a season because there’s so much variability, where the Olympics is really the star of all races and that’s something we care about a lot.”
“But it’s still ski racing, you cannot put too much in one race,” he added.
Despite failing to match his 72nd-place finish in his Pyeongchang debut four years ago, the Philippine Sports Commission-backed Miller and his coach remained proud of representing the Philippines in winter sports’ grandest stage.
“I’m really proud of Asa for the composure he showed this week,” Gregorak said. “The difficult hills, the difficult conditions and all the work and focus he put on to it—that’s all about being an athlete.”
“You cannot guarantee the result but Asa proved to be a formidable Olympian,” he added.
Philippine Ski and Snowboard Federation President Jim Apelar said he also remained proud of Miller for keeping the Philippines, a tropical nation, on the Winter Olympics map.
“It’s disappointing, but that’s part of the game and there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Apelar said. “We are here for a couple of things: competition and representation. So we can see positive things. We were able to raise positive things by raising our flag in the Olympics.” (POC) – bny
