GANGWON, South Korea—Filipino short track speed skater Peter Groseclose set foot at the Youth Olympic Village at the Gangneung Wonju National University on Thursday and immediately plunged into training under Olympian coach John-Henry Kruege’s watchful eyes at the Gangneung Ice Arena.
The 16-year-old Groseclose arrived in Seoul three days ago and didn’t waste any time to train at the Mokdong ice rink ahead of the Winter Youth Olympic Games that open Friday.
“I’m very honored and grateful to become part of the Winter Youth Olympic Games representing the Philippines,” said Groseclose, son of Americal author and professor Timothy and Filipina Victoria. “I think it will be a great experience and I’m very excited.”
He will be the first to compete among the three Filipino athletes who qualified in the games—1,500 meters on Saturday, 1000 meters on Sunday and 500 meters on Monday.
Groseclose is one of 36 men short track speed skaters with the host South Koreans favored to dominate anew after ruling four events in Innsbruck 2012 and Lausanne 2020.
The other Filipino athletes—freestyle skier Laetaz Amihan Rabe and crosscountry skier Avery Balbanida—are due here this week along with Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and secretary-general Atty. Wharton Chan.
Groseclose said he has his eyes on the 2026 Milano Cortina Italy Winter Olympics.
“That’s a goal of mine—to represent the Philippines in the 2026 Olympics,” said the 11th grader at Oakton High School in Virginia, USA.
Victoria Groseclose, who’s originally from Alabang, said her son is meticulously coached by Krueger, who represented the US at the Pyeongchang 2018 games and as a naturalized Hungarian in Beijing two years ago.
“Right before competition, the training was not too intense,” said Victoria, whose eldest daughter Jacqueline, 22, was a former figure skater.
Krueger clinched the men’s short track speed 1000m silver in Pyeongchang and led Hungary to a bronze finish in Beijing in the 2000m mixed relay.