CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — The Philippines qualified two alpine skiers in this year's Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, marking our country’s fourth consecutive appearance since the 2014 edition in Sochi, Russia. This is also the seventh overall appearance of Filipino athletes since the Philippines made its Winter Games debut at Sapporo 1972 in Japan with Alpine skiers, Juan Cipriano and Ben Nanasca, taking to the hill.

Francis Ceccarelli and Tallulah Proulx have both qualified in the Winter Games with Proulx becoming the first female athlete to represent the Philippines. She is roughly a month younger than Asa Miller who skied for the Philippines at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

At the opening ceremony, Ceccarelli served as the Philippines' flag bearer in Valetllina, Italy while Proulx fulfilled the similar role in Cortina.

The Utah-based 17-year-old Proulx secured her Olympic quota in giant slalom and slalom, making her the first female ever from the Southeast Asian nation to compete in the Winter Olympics. She will also make history as the youngest Filipino athlete to join the Games.

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"I was really, really happy, of course. And honestly, just so excited after I found outb. . . I was so grateful. And after that, like I would have been happy regardless, but I was especially happy on the drive home," she expressed her elation during a media interview.

"I'm just really happy and I hope I can be a role model to other young Filipina girls and Filipinas in general," she added.

On the other hand, Ceccarelli is competing for the Philippines in his adopted country co-hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, where he aims to rank among the top 50 in the world.

He started skiing under Italy in December 2019 after which he switched his sporting nationality to represent his birth country, the Philippines in May 2023. This process took three years as Caccarelli had to reacquire his Philippine citizenship and the associated passport.

The 20-year-old skier took part at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin. He competed in the men's slalom but did not record a time as he was disqualified on his first run after he went out the slalom line. His take away from the experience is not to let the pressure of expectations affect him.