The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games officially begin this Friday, with opening ceremonies kicking off at 11 a.m. PT. Alysa Liu and Troy Chang are already in Italy, awaiting their chance to compete in figure skating and alpine ski racing — incredible accomplishments for two UC students barely in their 20s. Their journeys will be inaugurated by the relay of the Olympic torch to Milan and Cortina, an effort helped along by a UC forester and his service dog just over a week ago.

2026年米兰科尔蒂纳冬奥会于本周五正式开幕，开幕式将于太平洋时间上午11点开始。艾莉莎·刘 （Alysa Liu）和 特洛伊·塞缪尔·张（Troy Chang）已经在意大利，等待着他们参加花样滑冰和高山滑雪比赛的机会——对于两个20多岁的加州大学学生来说，这是令人难以置信的成就。他们的旅程将以奥运火炬在米兰和科尔蒂纳的传递开始，一周前，加州大学的一名护林员和他的服务犬帮助了这项工作。

Alysa Liu

艾莉莎·刘

Alysa Liu never thought she would make it to this Olympics. Not for lack of ability — she already placed sixth in women’s figure skating in the 2022 Bejiing Olympics at the age of 16 — but because she didn’t expect to want to. After the 2022 Olympics, she hung up her skates.

刘艾莉从来没有想过她能参加本届奥运会。这并不是因为她缺乏能力——在2022年北京奥运会上，16岁的她已经获得了女子花样滑冰的第六名——而是因为她没想到自己想要这样做。2022年奥运会后，她收起了冰鞋。

As the youngest-ever national champion at 13 years old, Lui had been considered the future of U.S. figure skating for years, but she just wanted to be a normal teenager. “It was a crucial time in my life. I was 16 and college was coming up,” Liu told 60 Minutes. “I wanted to do so much.”

作为史上最年轻的全国花样滑冰冠军，13岁的她多年来一直被认为是美国花样滑冰的未来，但她只想做一个普通的青少年。“那是我生命中至关重要的时刻。当时我16岁，大学即将来临。”“我想做的太多了。”

For college, Liu chose UCLA, where she could pursue her many interests, from psychology to the arts. That intellectual and creative curiosity shows up on the ice not only in her attention to detail and elegance but also in her collaboration with costume designers. As a skater, her routines consistently earn 10s from the judges and raves from fans online: her free skate to a Lady Gaga medley went viral. She is a serious favorite for a gold in women’s figure skating.

上大学时，刘选择了加州大学洛杉矶分校，在那里她可以追求自己的兴趣，从心理学到艺术。这种智慧和创造性的好奇心不仅体现在她对细节和优雅的关注上，也体现在她与服装设计师的合作上。作为一名滑冰运动员，她的动作总是能从评委那里获得10分，并在网上得到粉丝们的热烈赞扬：她的自由滑冰和Lady Gaga的混合舞在网上疯传。她是夺得女子花样滑冰金牌的大热门。

But Liu has other goals on her mind, too — returning to her friends at UCLA, where she had to put off the semester for the Olympics, and earning her degree in psychology.

但刘也有其他的目标——回到她在加州大学洛杉矶分校的朋友们身边，在那里她不得不为了奥运会而推迟学期，并获得心理学学位。

Troy Samuel Chang

特洛伊·塞缪尔·张

Troy Samuel Chang, an international business major from Redding, Calif., will represent Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) in alpine ski racing. While many first-year students are settling into campus routines, Chang is preparing to compete at the highest level of his sport — balancing elite competition with his studies.

当许多一年级学生还在适应校园日常生活的时候，张正准备参加他的运动的最高水平的比赛——平衡精英比赛和他的学业。

Originally from Redding, California, Chang first clipped into skis at age 10 before joining a local ski club alongside his brothers. As his skills progressed, he realized he wanted to see how far he could push himself competitively. Chang enrolled at Sugar Bowl Ski Academy in Lake Tahoe — one of the premier ski racing academies in the U.S. — during his junior and senior years of high school, where he was able to focus intensively on training and competition. He secured Olympic qualification at age 20, younger than many competitors in a discipline where athletes often peak later in their careers.

张来自加州雷丁，10岁时第一次接触滑雪板，后来和他的兄弟们一起加入了当地的滑雪俱乐部。随着技术的进步，他意识到他想看看自己在竞争中能走多远。在他高中三年级和四年级的时候，Chang进入了位于太浩湖的糖碗滑雪学院，这是美国首屈一指的滑雪比赛学院之一，在那里他能够集中精力训练和比赛。他在20岁时就获得了奥运会参赛资格，比许多运动员都要年轻，而运动员往往在职业生涯的后期才达到巅峰。

“It’s so cool to compete alongside guys I’ve only seen on TV since I was a kid,” he said. “It feels like my inner child’s dream is coming true.”

他说：“和我小时候只在电视上见过的人一起比赛真是太酷了。”“感觉就像我内心孩子的梦想正在实现。”

How does he do it?

他是怎么做到的？

“I like to break things down bit by bit until I can process it,” he said. “That’s something I do with my schoolwork, too.”

“我喜欢把事情一点一点地分解，直到我能消化它，”他说。“我的功课也是这么做的。”

An Olympic achievement

奥运成就

University of California global forestry expert Matteo M. Garbelotto-Benzon will have had his Olympic moment by the time the Games open Feb. 6. He helped carry the flame along its way to Milan, through his home region in the Dolomites and the mountainous forests that inspired his career. And he will have done this with his service dog, S’Abba, by his side, demonstrating the power of assistance animals — even ones that just show up needing a home at your door. 加州大学全球林业专家马泰奥·M·加尔贝洛托-本佐恩在 2 月 6 日冬奥会开幕前就已拥有了属于自己的奥运时刻。他带着自己的服务犬“萨巴”参与了火炬传递，火炬从米兰出发，途经他的家乡多洛米蒂山区以及激发他事业灵感的山林。他还将与“萨巴”一同完成这一壮举，展示出辅助犬的力量——即便是那些出现在你家门口需要一个家的狗狗。

What’s next: The ultimate UC Olympics

接下来会发生什么：终极UC奥运会

Once the Winter Olympics close, it will be on to the Winter Paralympics, then LA in 2028. The plethora of NCAA sports that make up the Summer Games should mean a strong showing for UC athletes across swimming, track and field, and team sports, plus UCLA will host the Olympic Village along with several events. Enjoy the Alpine sights for now — much more to come from the California sun, and soon!

冬奥会结束后，中国将迎来冬季残奥会，然后是2028年的洛杉矶奥运会。夏季奥运会中有大量的NCAA项目，这意味着加州大学洛杉矶分校的运动员将在游泳、田径和团队项目上有强劲的表现，此外加州大学洛杉矶分校还将主办奥运村和一些项目。现在享受阿尔卑斯山的景色-更多来自加利福尼亚的阳光，很快！