Hong Kong skier Eloise King intent on ‘finding the rhythm’ on her Winter Olympics debut
The 21-year-old has gone from family ski trips to becoming a city flag bearer and competing in the women’s slalom at the highest level
Hong Kong alpine skier Eloise King Yung-shih has settled into Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and said she is ready to make her Olympic debut in the women’s slalom – the first of what she hopes will be many appearances on the sport’s biggest stage.
King, 21, first skied at the age of four in Japan during a family trip, and kept doing so once a year every year. When Eloise King was 13, her older cousin Audrey King began ski racing, and Eloise King was intrigued enough by her race to sign up for a summer racing camp on the Austrian glaciers.
Living and training with athletes from around the world, and feeling the speed and adrenaline of proper races, convinced her to pursue the sport more seriously. She soon joined the Hong Kong junior alpine squad and started representing the city, with her first outing being an FIS competition in Bosnia and Herzegovina when she was 16.
Cousin Audrey King went on to represent Hong Kong at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, and was someone who “played a key role in my skiing journey”, Eloise said.
Watching Audrey King fight through a tough Olympic qualifying season, both mentally and physically, later became a key reference point when Eloise King had to decide whether to commit to her own Olympic push.
“When I had the chance to choose whether I wanted to go for qualification, I definitely used her experience for my own,” Eloise King said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I knew that she was going to be there for me if I ever had any questions. She has been quite a big part of my journey for sure.”