BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Nikita Filippov, the ski mountaineer racer listed as an individual neutral athlete, was feeling the support. From family and his friends, who showed up in the stands for Thursday’s race with a big picture of his face on a poster.
He was feeling the pressure, too. From social media and especially himself. But it’s nothing that Filippov, who once encountered a bear as a kid, couldn’t handle it.
The 23-year-old from Russia finished with a silver medal as his sport of ski mountaineering — “skimo” for short — made its Olympic debut. With his silver, Filippov became the first individual neutral athlete to earn a medal in Italy.
After the race, he acknowledged the difficulty of not celebrating his country.
“It’s hard, because I see other athletes with the flags of their nations and wearing uniforms with their nations on them,” said Filippov, who finished 1.52 seconds behind winner Oriol Cardona Coll of Spain in the finals. “But it’s OK. Everybody knows from what country I am. I’m just happy to be here and to have realized my child dream.”
Many sports barred Russian athletes from competing as part of the diplomatic fallout after Russian troops moved into Ukraine days after the last Winter Olympics in 2022.
At the Milan Cortina Games, he’s one of the few Russians competing under “AIN,” the French acronym for “individual neutral athlete.” That means they formally aren’t representing their country. They’re also not allowed to wear any Russian symbols.
Instead, Filippov wore a white jacket with light blue on the shoulders and hood.
The social-media pressure to capture a medal? It was immense — at least, the comments he saw.
“They said, ‘Nikita Filippov, it’s a very important day today for us, because there is no medal, and he is our hope. Main hope,’” said Filippov, who’s from Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula. ”I was telling myself, ‘Just relax, Nikita. Do your thing and a medal will come.’”
Filippov couldn’t catch Cardona Coll on the final downhill descent, but he did hold off bronze medalist Thibault Anselmet of France.
“Nikita is a great athlete,” Anselmet said.
Filippov had his own cheering section in the stands with his friends. He appreciated their props, too.
“They came and printed my big face (on posters),” he said with a smile. “It was very special.”
Same with earning a medal in the newest Olympic sport. Ski mountaineering was voted into the Olympic program in 2021, an action-packed ski race to the top of the course and then back down.
The individual sprints were set up in a bracket-style format. He finished second in his first heat, second again in his semifinal heat and second in the final.
“After the finish, I had no words for about 30 seconds,” said Filippov, whose bio said he had his first encounter with a bear when he was 8 years old. “Then I realized that I won the silver medal, and I was very happy.
“Last season, nobody believed (in) me, except my family, my friends, my coach, my father. And now I’m here — I got silver.”
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