World Alpine Champs

Support for Tongan skier at World Alpine Champs

The 34-year-old will contest the giant slalom qualifying race, as he continues his quest to reach the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Skeen has three competitive races under his belt and said momentum has been building in his campaign.

"Starting from the bottom and working my way up, really, I didn't expect to receive that much support," he said.

"At my last race...I had a group of young guys who were also racing and were asking me about what I was doing and waiting for me at the end to cheer me across the finish line.