[Photo credit to Karl Hörnfeldt]
February 26, 2026 (Thursday) – Eva Weber
As of this Thursday in Milan, on February 19th, Alysa Liu has become an Olympic gold medalist. The fresh, smiling sensation delivered a stunning, flawless free skate to "MacArthur Park Suite" by Donna Summer, achieving the best score of the season with 150.20 points. Added to her spectacular performance in the earlier short program, Liu ended her competitive events with a total score of 226.79, narrowly beating silver-medalist Kaori Sakamoto from Japan with her 224.90 points, and bronze-medalist Ami Nakai from Japan with her 219.16.
With this achievement, Liu has become the first U.S. women's figure skater to take gold since Sarah Hughes 24 years ago at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Liu continues to amaze and inspire, recently amassing widespread fame among youth and skating communities for her incredibly motivational personal comeback story and endlessly positive outlook.
Liu started skating at 5 years old and quickly rose to prominence in the skating industry as a global sensation. She was brilliant, prodigal, and just 13 years old. Liu was the youngest US national champion ever, the youngest U.S. woman to land a triple Axel at a U.S. Championship, the winner of numerous significant figure skating championships. And she was miserable. Liu was strictly dieted, choreographed, and scheduled to train. She lived by herself in the Olympic dormitories. Eventually, the pressure broke her, and after competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics at age 16, placing 7th, Alysa Liu retired from competitive figure skating, left traumatized by the sport.
Following her heartbreaking departure from the sport, Liu returned to school, went to college at UCLA, travelled, and enjoyed her teen life outside elite athletics, recently trying out skiing, which unexpectedly rekindled her passion for figure skating once more.
Energized, impassioned, and with a brand new carefree and electrifying outlook, Liu stepped back into the ice rink, announcing her return in March 2024.
This time, it was different. Liu demanded she had autonomy over her programs, music, choreography, training schedule, and diet—“No one’s going to starve me. Or tell me what I can and can’t eat.” Liu commented in a January 60 Minutes interview.
She entered her comeback figure skating season in 2025, going on to place second in the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and proceeded to win the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships, a massive achievement that marked her first world title. This was the first world title for a U.S. woman in almost 2 decades.
Unlike her younger years training, Liu’s comeback skating and training style centered around her own personal passion and enjoyment, which makes her return so unique and inspirational. Regardless of the brilliant achievement of an Olympic gold medal, Liu continues to represent something even more powerful than medals—a reminder that true success is not just about standing on the podium, it is about finding happiness and freedom in the journey itself.
