Tongan alpine skier Kasete Skeen will compete at the 2019 FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships in Åre, Sweden.
Next week Skeen, who has family links to Vava’u and Tongatapu, will compete in the Giant Slalom qualification race at the Åre World Championships.
He became the first Tongan to compete at Alpine Skiing World Championships in St Moritz in Switzerland in 2017.
He finished 104th out of 105 competitors.
He wanted to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, but ruptured the tissue that connects the thighbone to the shinbone while training in New Zealand.
While recovering, Skeen moved to Sweden, learned Swedish and took up a job in the Åre ski area to help fund his return to competition.
Skeen was working as Manager at Opera
Holland Park in London in 2016 when he decided to pursue his dream of becoming
Tonga’s first Olympic alpine skier.
He once joked to Radio New Zealand that Tonga probably isn’t overrun with skiers.
The first Tongan to compete in the Winter Olympics was Bruno Banani at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.
“He’s a trailblazer definitely for Tonga – the first Tongan to compete in the Winter Olympics – and also it’s kind of inspiration for not just Tongans but lots of people from non-traditional backgrounds or non-traditional Winter Olympic countries to kind of get involved,” Skeen said.
The main points
- Tongan alpine skier Kasete Skeen will compete at the 2019 FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships in Åre, Sweden.
- Next week Skeen, who has family links to Vava’u and Tongatapu, will compete in the Giant Slalom qualification race at the Åre World Championships.
For more information
Tongan skier sets sights on 2018 Winter Olympics
Royal Tonga Ski Federation
