Miller told to be 'error-free' in Winter Olympics skiing bid

MANILA, Philippines – Will Gregorak, coach of Fil-Am Winter Olympian alpine skier Asa Miller, arrived Friday and quickly gave a piece of advice to his ward — there is no room for error.

“The simple reality of skiing is that a pretty minor mistake or even not a necessary mistake, just the lack of anticipation of a piece of snow can take you out of the race extremely, quickly, and that’s extremely common in any given race so it’s always unfortunate,” said Gregorak, who raced in the World Cup 23 times for the US team. 

Gregorak got the chance to check out the competition venue — the Ice River located atop the Xiaohaituo Mountain — and pinpointed to Miller that the start of the race would be most critical.

“If a skier doesn’t feel the steep course due to unfamiliarity with snow conditions and is not mentally focused, he will be in trouble really fast,” said Gregorak.

One example that shocked everyone in the event was the disastrous finish of two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin in the women’s giant slalom event where she did not finish early this week.

“That’s what happened to Shiffrin,” said Gregorak. “The sports skiing is one of the sports where people only pay attention when the Olympics comes around.

But the nature of the sport of skiing to go on Shiffrin’s level, it is miraculous that she finished the races, as she does attacking, as hard as she does.”

Miller will plunge into battle in the men’s slalom contest at 10 a.m. Sunday while the slalom kicks off also at 10 a.m. Wednesday.