By sportswriters Shan Lei, Liu Yang

TURIN, Italy, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The lifetime dream of Chinese skier Chen Jieqi was to compete for her country at a world-class tournament, which, due to injury, she failed to achieve.

She would never fulfil her dream when she retired four years ago, but things suddenly changed after she became a student athlete at the 2025 Winter Universiade in Turin.

"My dream has come true. I was so excited. I still cannot believe I did it a long time after the race finished. I feel like I'm still in a dream," said Chen after she finished 60th in the Alpine skiing women's Giant Slalom on Saturday.

However, it was not the results that concerned her; it was the accomplishment she once thought she had no more chances to make. It was the pride and confidence she cherished when she held the national flag on the top of the mountain in Bardonecchia after the two-run race.

Chen, who was born in 2002, took up boxing at the age of 13 in her hometown Hezhou, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

She switched to skiing in 2018, a decision that received strong opposition from her family.

"My family thought boxing was safer because I had the helmet and other protection. They thought skiing was more dangerous," Chen said.

Her family was proved right when she suffered a knee injury in 2020, which led to her decision to retire one year later.

After a long and lonely journey around China, Chen decided to go back to school and was recruited by Harbin Sport University in 2023.

"I'm very happy with my results here," she said.

Coming from a small town in China's warmer south, Chen had never encountered snow until a few years ago.

"The first time I saw snow was in 2018 when I had a training camp in Germany. It was such an amazing and eye-opening experience. I fell in love with snow and skiing from that moment," Chen recalled.

She had never skied at Bardonecchia, which was also the piste of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games. Finishing both runs without mistakes or tumbles, and without missing any flags, represented success for her.

"The piste here is much longer than our training track in China, and flags were doubled. The snow is hard, like ice, which is very difficult for our athletes," said Jiang Rong, coach and manager of the China's Alpine skiing university team.

"I like skiing. I'm from the south of China, where few people see snow. But on the other hand, snow is more attractive to us," Chen said. "I want to teach skiing after I graduate. I want more children from south of China to learn skiing, to see a much bigger and more interesting world." Enditem

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