Meet the American girl who skied into the history of the Winter Olympics in the Philippines

Last month in Northern California, 17-year-old American alpine skier Tallulah Proulx cut through the final gates of her final slalom qualifier and slid through the finish line. She and her mother sat in their car afterwards, floating between hope and heartbreak in the thin mountain air, not yet knowing if her running would be enough to get her to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Northern Italy.

It was the last day of qualifying.

“My mother and I weren’t sure until we got in the car and were about to leave,” Proulx told CBS News.

The exciting news arrived moments later: Proulx had qualified by a narrow margin, not only to participate in the Milano Cortina Games, but to make history: she is the first woman from the Philippines to compete in the Winter Olympics, and also the country’s youngest Winter Olympian.

“I was so happy, so excited, and it didn’t feel real,” she said, adding that her mother had a treat ready for any potential bad news. “My mom got me a cookie and the funny thing is we said this is a celebration cookie – not a comfort cookie. We just drove home and celebrated.”

Any nerves that had followed her down the mountain melted into laughter, and that final finish in California became her starting point for Cortina.

“I definitely feel some pressure,” she said. “This is my first major international competition with this insanely high level of athletes. But the outcome, whatever the outcome is, I’m just going to keep a positive attitude and just have fun and be here for the experience. And I’m very excited to showcase the Philippines and show the world what the Philippines can do.”

Every Olympian’s story starts somewhere much smaller than a packed stadium. For Proulx it started close to the snow – at toddler height. She was just three years old when she strapped on her first pair of skis.

Growing up in Berkeley, California, Proulx’s parents made the three-hour pilgrimage to Lake Tahoe for family weekends on the mountain with her and her brother. The rhythm of those early turns slowed, however, at age seven, when her mother’s job took the family to Iowa.

“Iowa is very flat,” she laughed. “There’s a little hill called Sundown Mountain. Shout out Sundown! And they only had one racing team.”

However, the mountain kept calling. When she was ten, her parents enrolled her in a full-time, six-day-a-week ski program in Vail, Colorado. A year later, in 2018, she moved again, this time to Park City, Utah, to continue chasing speed, snow and seconds.

“My family has been incredibly supportive of my journey from the beginning. They are the ones who sent me to Vail to pursue my passion, even though it wasn’t necessarily for everyone,” Proulx said. “It was kind of hard on the family, so they ended up moving to Park City, but they were the ones who believed in me and believed in my dream.”

Choosing the final leg of Proulx’s path to achieving her Olympic dream came down to both strategy and realism. She and her family had to decide whether she should try out for Team USA or Team Philippines.

“We were definitely thinking about the best and easiest way first and foremost,” she told CBS News. “There are far fewer athletes competing for the Philippines than for the US. For the US it would probably be necessary – I would probably have to take a gap year, work your way up [to] the US ski team – and only a few of them are here at the Olympics.”

So the family settled on Proulx, a dual citizen, competing under the banner of her Filipino heritage.

“I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today if I was under the American flag,” she admitted.

At the opening ceremony in Cortina on February 6, Proulx put that decision in bright light and walked into the Olympic stadium under the red, white and blue – and yellow sun and stars – of the Republic of the Philippines, as the country’s flag bearer.

Now she hopes the traces she leaves behind will become someone else’s trail forward.

“I would say that if you are passionate and you are surrounded by the right people who support you and you have that passion in your heart and you are also kind to others, I think you can pursue whatever you want,” she urged all the young fans and aspiring athletes following her journey.

Especially young Filipinos and Filipinas watching, she proudly offered them as fuel for their own climbs.

“You know, I think Filipinos are one of the most supportive people,” she said. “I want to say to all the Filipinos watching, we are so strong, we can do it… be proud of our identity – and I think it is so important that I am here for the Winter Olympics, as a first step.”

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