UC athletes look for gold in Pyeongchang
February 12, 2018 •
Two UC athletes hope to make their mark at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang this month: Bobsledder Carlo Valdes, a UCLA alum, and UC Davis freestyle skier Brita Sigourney.
Sigourney comes into the games on a tear: She nabbed first- and second-place World Cup finishes and a second-place finish in the X Games, all in January.
This will be her second Olympics. Sigourney left Davis in 2011 to join the newly established U.S. Freeskiing team. Three years later, she participated in freeskiing’s Olympics debut at Sochi, placing sixth in her event. Now, at age 28, she has a second shot at an Olympic medal.
This will be the first Olympics for Carlo Valdes. During his time at UCLA, Valdes played football for one season, then switched to track and field as a javelin thrower. After his graduation, UCLA’s director of track and field encouraged him to try out for the national bobsled team. It was clearly a smart move: In 2015, Valdes was named the 2015 USA Men’s Bobsled Rookie of the Year.
Sigourney and Valdes join a long and storied UC Olympic tradition.
Read full article about current and former UC Olympians.
Photo on home page of Link: Carlo Valdes. Credit: U.S. Olympic Committee
