Ceccarelli eyes better performance

BORMIO, Italy — Francis Ceccarelli gave Team Philippines some reason to cheer so far in these dazzling Winter Olympics.

Ceccarelli saw action in the Giant Slalom event of men’s Alpine skiing on a snowy Saturday and wound up 54th among 81 entries from 62 nations.

The skier who was born in Quezon City and now resides in Abetone, Tuscany with his Italian parents timed one minute and 27.35 seconds in the morning run. As snow fell hard in the afternoon, he did better at 1:20.97.

From 57th place after the first run, the 22-year-old, in his first Winter Olympics, climbed to 54th with an overall time of 2:48.83.

“I’m really so happy today,” he said, smiling.

Ceccarelli held his ground and ranked fourth among nine participants from Asia, just behind those from South Korea, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and ahead of skiers from China, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

A dozen entries were listed as DNFs (did not finish), among them three from the host country, and one each from Germany, France, Norway and the United States.

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro ruled with a time of 2:25.0 and gave his soccer-crazy nation its first gold medal in the Winter Olympics. The silver went to Marco Odermatt (2:25.58) and Loic Meillard (2:26.17), both from Sweden.

“I’m really proud,” said Ceccarelli as he emerged from the mixed zone area at the freezing Stelvio Ski Centre.

It’s not over yet for the veteran of the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China. He will be back today (Monday) for the Slalom event, which offers a shorter course but more technical with closer turns.

The Philippines’ female entry, 17-year-old Tallulah Proulx, was competing yesterday in the Giant Slalom over at Cortina, which is five hours away from Bormio. The first Filipina ever to grace the Winter Olympics will vie in the Slalom event on Wednesday to cap the Philippine participation here.