Tonga's Pita Taufatofua will make his Winter Olympics debut later today in Pyeongchang.
The 34-year-old, who represented Tonga in taekwondo at the 2016 Summer Olympics, will compete in the men's 15km freestyle event, little over a year after attempting cross country skiing for the first time.
Pita Taufatofua. Photo: Royal Tonga Ski Federation
Taufatofua completed five races during qualifying and was confident of producing his best performance in Korea.
"That's what I've been doing throughout this qualification process is just giving my best," he said.
"My best performance is probably a while away from people who have been skiing since they've been born - just in terms of VO2 max and that level of cardio, that's built up over years and years, but in terms of what I've done before I've got no doubt that I can beat my last self."
The Head of Sport for the Royal Tonga Ski Federation, Steve Grundmann said they have spent the past ten days training on the Olympic course in increasingly challenging conditions.
"It was very tough because the snow changed a bit. It was really really cold and it was really dry and it was old snow and now it's getting warmer," he said.
"Actually a lot warmer and tomorrow (Friday) is going to be warmer again. It's a solid track.
"We're still happy about it, Pita is still happy about it that it's not getting too soft and too slushy, because that would make everything a bit more difficult but he feels very comfortable in it and he was practicising now the last ten days on it and feels very comfortable.
"It's a tough course, it's a really tough course: some intense hills in it and 15km is really long so he has to perform at his max."
Pita Taufatofua training in Pyeongchang. Photo: Royal Tonga Ski Federation
The devastation in Tonga from Cyclone Gita has also occupied much of Team Tonga's thoughts this week.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach contacted Pita Taufatofua and offered his support to rebuild sporting facilities in the Kingdom.
Steve Grundmannn said it adds to their motivation to perform well and represent Tonga on the world stage.
"For him and the whole team and family and friends it was a big big shock shock of course and first of all it puts everything into perspective," he said.
"Because you make sure everybody is alright, you know everybody on the island and take care of everything and that was a little bit of a setback (for us) but we can just cause awareness here and send out prayers or messages to people to people to help.
"It's always a tough situation for him - he's an athlete, he's at the Olympics. It's a tough decision but he will compete for Tonga because that's probably the best thing he can do at the moment but it's definitely not going to be easy for him and of course his mind is also somewhere else."