Winter Olympian Asa Miller inspired by Hidilyn Diaz' gold medal run

MANILA, Philippines — Asa Miller, the Philippines' lone representative to the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, is drawing motivation from the Philippines' best performance in the Tokyo Summer Olympics as his own competition looms next month.

Speaking to Philippine media on Saturday in a press conference organized by his backers SM Skating, Miller spoke about how he is determined to do even better for the country.

"Watching Hidilyn Diaz taking her first gold [in Tokyo] was so inspirational," Miller said.

"While I don't have the same expectations for myself in competition, I definitely want to show my improvement... It's a huge inspiration and I'm super happy for her and us as a nation," he added.

Miller will compete in the slalom and giant slalom events in the Winter Games set to unfurl on February 4.

It's the 21-year-old's second straight Olympics after first qualifying in PyeongChang back in 2018.

The Portland, Oregon native keeps his expectations tempered, though.

The country's only bet to the Games will simply look to perform better than he did in the previous edition.

"I really just hope to display my improvements over the last four years technically," Miller said.

"We'll have to see how it goes when it comes but I do expect myself to do pretty well," he added.