Last month in Northern California, 17-year-old American alpine skier Tallulah Proulx blasted through the final gate of her final slalom qualifier and crossed the finish line. She and her mom sat in their car afterward, teetering between hope and heartbreak in the thin mountain air, not yet knowing if her runs would be enough to get her to Winter Olympic Games 2026 in northern Italy.

It was the last day of qualification.

“Mom and I weren’t sure until we got in the car and wanted to go,” Proulx told CBS News.

Exciting news came moments later: Proulx qualified, by a narrow margin, not only to compete in the Milan Games in Cortina, but also to make history: she is the first Filipino woman to compete in the Winter Olympics, and also the country’s youngest Winter Olympian.

“I was so happy, so excited and it didn’t seem real,” she said, adding that her mother had prepared a treat for the potentially bad news. “My mom bought me a cookie and the funny thing is that we said this was a celebration cookie — not a comfort cookie. We were just driving home and celebrating.”

All the nerves that had been dragging her down the mountain melted into laughter, and that last finish in California became her gateway to Cortina.

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

The story of every Olympian begins somewhere far less than a packed stadium. For Proulx, it started near the snow – at low altitude. She was only three years old when she put on her first pair of skis.

Growing up in Berkeley, California, Proulx’s parents made the three-hour pilgrimage to Lake Tahoe to spend family weekends on the mountain with her and her brother. However, the pace of those early changes slowed at age seven, when Mom’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 a racing team.”

The mountain, however, kept calling. When she was 10, her parents enrolled her in a full-day skiing program six days a week 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 were the ones who loved me, sent me to Vail to pursue my passion, even though it wasn’t necessarily for everyone,” Proulx said. “It was hard for the family so they ended up moving to Park City, but they believed in me and believed in my dream.”

Choosing the final leg of Proulxin’s journey to achieving her Olympic dream came down to strategy and realism. She and her family had to decide whether she should try to represent Team USA or Team Philippines.

“We were definitely thinking first and foremost about the best and easiest way,” she told CBS News. “There are a lot less athletes competing for the Philippines than there are for the U.S. For the U.S., it would probably take a while — I’d probably have to take a year off, make (the) U.S. Ski Team — and only a few of them are here in the Olympics.”

So the family settled on Proulx, with dual citizenship, competing under the banner of their Filipino origins.

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

At the opening ceremony in Cortina on February 6, Proulx brought that decision into the limelight, entering 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 he hopes that the traces he leaves behind will become someone else’s.

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

To young Filipinos and Filipinos who watched her, she offered pride as fuel for their ascent.

“You know, I think Filipinos are one of the most supportive people,” she said. “I just want to say to all the Filipinos watching, like we’re so strong, we can do it…be proud of your identity — and I think it’s so important that, you know, I’m here for the Winter Olympics, as a first step.”