Winter Olympics: Asa Miller DNF in first run of giant slalom
File Photo from Asa Miller's Instagram account
Fil-Am skier Asa Miller stumbled in the men’s giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Sunday after failing to finish his first run at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre in China.
Racing 63rd in the field of 89 skiers, Miller slipped early in his run that cost his bid to eclipse his 70th finish in the 2018 Pyeongchang edition.
The heavy snowfall that caused almost zero visibility and tricky course proved to be punishing for the competitors, as 32 others also did not finish their first run.
Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt topped the first run in 1 minute and 2.93 seconds, followed by Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner (1:02.97), France’s Mathieu Faivre (1:03.01) and 2018 Pyeongchang silver medalist Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway (1:03.05).
The second run, where only 54 skiers are competing for the gold medal, has been postponed due to the heavy snowfall and low visibility.
Last week, the venue and weather also played antagonist to celebrated three-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin in the women’s giant slalom after the American did not finish the race.
“It’s certainly a bummer and as the course got skied out, it's not good on the upper pitch,” said Miller’s American coach Will Gregorak.
“I feel bummed for him but he had an excellent warm up this morning.”
So frustrated with his performance that Miller immediately went back to the Olympic Village with dad Kelly.
“The hard part about this hill is that it comes out as you ride and it gets very slick,” Gregorak said.
Snow has been falling since Saturday at the National Alpine Skiing Center where athletes had been racing and training. A second women’s downhill training run scheduled for Sunday was canceled.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Nicola Zanon was the best Southeast Asian Games finisher in the run after placing 44th with a time of 1:17.53. Timor Leste’s Yohan Goncalves Goutt, for his part, came in 52nd among 54 finishers with 1:21.52.
Miller still has one event left in his second Winter Olympics appearance – the men’s slalom – scheduled on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the same venue.
“Asa wants to put his head into slalom mode,” Gregorak said. “He’ll take today and let the frustration out and then tomorrow we will go back to slalom.”