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<\/a><\/p>\nIn 2022, Audrey Lu and her pairs partner Misha Mitrofanov won the Four Continents Championships and were alternates for the Olympic team. To some, they looked poised to become the top pairs team in the U.S. heading into the next Olympic cycle.<\/p>\n
But then, that spring, Lu announced that she would be heading to college at UCLA in the fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely hard, especially coming from such a high of winning Four Continents right before [retiring],\u201d Lu shared in a Zoom interview. \u201cBut I got my acceptance in 2020 and applied for gap years for two years, so I knew this was coming. I was upset, but I knew in my heart that I really wanted to go to school and pursue my academics, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because during those years she was excelling on the ice, Lu was also a standout in the classroom. She was the salutatorian of her high school and was one of just 125 students to earn the Freshman Alumni Scholarship, of more than 6,000 UCLA freshmen. The merit-based scholarship includes membership in the Alumni Scholars Club, a group that offers mentoring, leadership development, and social networking opportunities.<\/p>\n
It was an unusual choice in the skating world, but one that Lu is happy with.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard, coming here, but still having a skating community and still being really involved in skating, I feel like it wasn\u2019t such a hard transition,\u201d Lu said.<\/p>\n UCLA has more than 30,000 undergraduates, and Lu said, \u201c[It] is definitely a big school, but having my skating community, somewhere where I already knew that I would have a group of friends, is really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Though when she first arrived on campus, some of the skaters were intimidated by Lu\u2019s impressive skating resume. \u201cSome of my friends now jokingly say they were scared; they didn\u2019t know how [I] would be or how [I] would react to being on an intercollegiate team.\u201d<\/p>\n But after two years skating with the team, Lu says her teammates are like \u201ca close family,\u201d and she loves competing at intercollegiate competitions. She skates in the senior women\u2019s singles event, and also competes in High Team Maneuvers, an event where one skater from each school performs required elements like jumps, spins, and footwork. Lu competes the flying spin for the Bruins.<\/p>\n \u201cCollegiate is different in a way, because everyone is cheering for all the different schools, no matter what school you compete for. We\u2019re all here because we want to do it. Taking time out of your studies to travel to these competitions and skate, people know that you\u2019re here because you love to do it,\u201d she said. \u201cJust hearing the cheering and the support from all the different schools, it\u2019s an amazing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n Being on the ice at these intercollegiate competitions comes with less pressure than during her international career. When she skated pairs, Lu competed under the International Judging System (IJS), but intercollegiate competitions are currently judged under the 6.0 system (though they have also been judged using IJS in the past). Competing under 6.0 means there are no levels or grades of execution for her elements, so Lu felt like it was an easier transition back to singles skating, which she competed in earlier in her skating career.<\/p>\n Now that she\u2019s skating on her own again, Lu is enjoying some freedom to explore different music styles. Her short program is set to \u201cCan\u2019t Help Falling in Love,\u201d while her free skate is to Billie Eilish\u2019s version of \u201cNo Time to Die,\u201d from the James Bond movie.<\/p>\n Traveling to competitions with her 20 teammates is also a highlight, she said. \u201cYou\u2019re all in the same boat, studying at the competition whenever you can, in the locker rooms and the bleachers or the hotel room.\u201d<\/p>\n The UCLA team is entirely student-run, and they don\u2019t have a coach that works with them. The skaters all support each other at practice and competitions, and on competition day, they put each other on the ice as a coach would.<\/p>\n<\/a>She will start her junior year at UCLA in the fall, studying psychobiology, a major in the psychology department that combines both psychology and biology courses. And she\u2019s stayed on the ice alongside her studies, returning to singles skating at intercollegiate competitions. In 2024, she earned the silver medal in senior women at the 2024 National Intercollegiate Final.<\/p>\n<\/a>Lu also pointed out that it is easier to connect with her competitors these days, since there isn\u2019t a language barrier like at international competitions. \u201cHere, everyone is [asking], \u2018What are you studying?\u2019 or \u2018What are your future goals?\u2019 or \u2018What are you involved in?\u2019 or saying, \u2018I\u2019m looking forward to seeing you at the next competition.\u2019 It\u2019s just amazing getting to know everybody, and just being on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n