CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Seventeen-year-old Tallulah Proulx stepped into the start house for her Olympic debut in the women’s giant slalom on Sunday with a grin.
As the first woman and youngest to ever represent the Philippines at the Winter Games, the Park City-based skier looked calmer than many veterans in her giant slalom debut.
Proulx, who graduated from the Winter Sports School in December, finished her inaugural Olympic race with a combined time of 2:41.62, 28.12 seconds off the lead.
“Maybe I looked unfazed, but I think Perry was also stressing with me. About four racers out from my first run, the stress started hitting me, just realizing, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to be an Olympian,'” said Tallulah.
Proulx has lived in Park City since she was 10, when her family relocated from Iowa to bring her to the mountain community that would shape her skiing career. Her father, James Proulx, first moved with her to Vail, Colorado, for a season when she was 9, before the family ultimately settled in Utah so she could attend Rowmark Ski Academy at Rowland Hall.
After six years there, she transferred to Winter Sports School to focus fully on international competition and FIS racing. She has trained with the Philippine delegation since around age 12.
“It’s been very exciting. I just don’t have any words,” James said. “It’s just amazing to see how much she has worked and earned this. And I can’t say I’m surprised, knowing how much she gave to get here, but I am certainly shocked at how fast this has happened. We’re really here, at the Olympics.”
He remembered when she couldn’t put her ski boots on by herself while applying to attend Vail Mountain School. Coaches told him she would need to be independent. Now, years later, she travels the world racing largely on her own, cooking for herself on the road, and managing the demands of international competition.
“When she’s home, she won’t cook at all,” James joked, as her older brother, Tiago, replied, “I didn’t know she could even cook. What?”
Proulx doesn’t even have her driver’s license yet, but only because she hasn’t been home long enough to take the test. Her father said he doesn’t mind driving her when she’s back in town.
“It’s nice to have those moments together in the car and be able to talk to her because otherwise we rarely see her,” he said.
James is Filipino, and Proulx’s heritage has become a huge part of her Olympic presence. Her mother, Maia Hightower, who is half Black and half Chinese, said the representation has resonated far beyond the Games.
“It’s been so crazy. I am so excited to be able to represent that part of her heritage and be a source of inspiration for other young girls,” Hightower said. “Representation matters. To be able to see somebody that looks like them.”
She described messages from around the world, from South Asia to South America, from people who may not be Filipino but saw themselves reflected in Proulx. After her race on Sunday, young South Asian children approached her at the venue to sign their helmets.
“That level of visibility is something that she’s bringing to these kids and to this sport,” said Hightower.
Proulx’s Olympic debut also made for a well-timed family reunion. Her brother, Tiago, who studies at Occidental College and has been abroad in China for the past year, hadn’t seen her since he left at the end of the summer. The first time he saw her again was in the finish corral after her first Olympic run.
“It was so surreal,” James said. “Seeing her name on the broadcast. It’s crazy.”
Friends in Park City, including her friends and coaches on the ski team, joined the Olympic livestream to cheer for Tallulah after her race. Fantaye Gilbertson, a close friend who lived with the Proulx family last year while training in Park City and now skis for Team Palisades Tahoe with hopes of one day representing Ethiopia internationally, woke up at 3:30 a.m. to wave at the screen — unaware that she would end up on the national television broadcast in the middle of the night. Gilbertson’s parents, Tony and Julie, flew in from Minnesota to cheer in person.
Tony Gilbertson brought more than 20 Philippine flags to hand out to the crowd, and ensured everyone had one along the front-row barricade before Proulx’s run.
“Everybody was excited to help out and take them and cheer as she came in,” he said.
The women’s giant slalom itself delivered tight competition, with positions among the Top 15 separated by mere hundredths of a second.
Italy’s Federica Brignone captured gold with a combined time of 2:13.50, her second gold medal of the week after the super-G. Sweden’s Sara Hector and Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund tied for silver at 2:14.12 — matching to the hundredth of a second across both runs after also tying with Albania’s Lara Colturi in the first run. There was no bronze medal awarded.
Team USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin finished 11th, 0.92 seconds off the lead. Teammates Paula Moltzan came in 15th, and Nina O’Brien finished 20th after rebounding with the fastest second run of the day.
Shiffrin said, “It was a beautiful day of racing, really good conditions, and sunny, and like one of those days you can really enjoy. That was an amazing day. That was the greatest show of GS skiing that we’ve had in a really long time. When I think about it, I’m three-tenths off the podium and in 11th. That is such a high level of competition.”
For Proulx, completing both Olympic runs was a huge victory. Coach Perry Schaffner, who has worked with her since August 2024 and accompanied her from Park City Ski and Snowboard, said the first run helped clear her nerves and make way for a really fun second run.
“I made it. I made it down. And I really hope the Philippines is proud of me,” she said. “It’s been so overwhelming, but in the best way possible. Second run, I could focus a bit more on what I wanted to execute. And again, it was so much fun. I’m just so happy and proud of myself.”
After her first run, Hightower stood in the crowd filming — a strategy she and James said helped calm their nerves.
“I was so busy filming, I forgot to be nervous at all, and then once she was in the finish, I just took a huge breath,” said Hightower
Watching other skiers crash or ski out made it hard to stay calm.
“It gets really scary when you see other skiers ski out,” she said. “But she has been smiling the whole time; she just looks so relaxed up there. It’s just crazy.”
In the stands, the Olympic spirit superseded national allegiance. When Federica Brignone surged into the lead, every flag, no matter the country, waved for her victory.
In the standing section, Maia Hightower befriended the family of Iceland’s Sonja Li Kristinsdottir, who started just before Tallulah in bib 74, and the two families swapped vantage points along the fence so each could better see their child’s run down the hill.
“We are just so excited that she is enjoying the experience, being in the present and can continue to have this experience of a lifetime,” Hightower said.