- Spencer Eccles carried the Olympic torch through Lake Como, Italy, to kick off the Olympic Winter Games.
- Eccles reflected on Utah's Olympic legacy and its impact on athletes like Nick Page.
- The Eccles family supports Utah's Olympic facilities, hoping for a successful 2034 Games in Salt Lake City.
LECCO, Italy — Some places feel made for postcards, and northern Italy's Lake Como region is certainly one of those places.
On Sunday evening, even the stunning beauty of the mountains surrounding Lecco took a back seat to a small flame with a big meaning. The Olympic torch made its way through the area as part of its journey toward Milan for the 2026 Winter Games.
Among the runners helping carry the flame was a familiar face from Utah — Spencer Eccles said carrying the torch was about far more than a single run.
"It really invokes the spirit into me about the Olympics and what it does," he said. "It inspires all of us."
The feeling brought back memories for Eccles, including the moment he ran alongside his father, Spence Eccles, ahead of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
"To be there in his hometown of Ogden, near Snowbasin Resort, where he grew up racing and learning to ski, that was a moment that you can never forget," Eccles said. It is also why the Eccles family has long believed in Utah's Olympic legacy and has invested in keeping it alive.
That legacy is still being felt today by athletes training in Utah and competing on the world's biggest stage.
"Now we have people like Nick Page, who was not even born in 2002," Eccles said. "He has been training on the venues in Utah that all of us helped create."
Page, a moguls skier from Park City, is set to compete in his second Olympic Games in Italy. He has been training at Utah Olympic Park since he was 7 years old.
"Literally, without this pool, I don't have a career, right? This kick-started and accelerated so much success for me that having an infrastructure like this made my dreams possible," Page said.
That infrastructure, and many of Utah's Olympic facilities, exist because of the commitment to legacy following the 2002 Games.
"There's been so much left behind from 2002 with this exact goal to make the future better and to give athletes like me growing up the opportunity to use infrastructure," Page said. "And that really all came from the Eccles Foundation."
As Eccles carried the Olympic flame on his portion of the relay, the smile on his face said it all.
"What this has done to me, it has just reignited the flame inside of me. I wish I could help everybody feel that hope and that spirit of the Olympics," he said after his run. "The flame coming off that torch, it illuminates, it creates hope and hope for the future, hope for our children who are coming up."
That flame will eventually make its way back to Utah as preparations continue for the 2034 Winter Olympics.
Eccles said he and his family feel a stewardship for the Games and for Utah, and it is important to carry that forward.
"And as we do that, we'll make 2034 the best games ever," Eccles said. "It's right around the corner."
