Meet Alysa Liu: The Figure Skater Who Won Gold (And Our Hearts)

Every four years, many athletes gear up to represent their respective countries at the Olympics. Some are veterans with faces we know and love, and others are young, a new generation we will learn to grow and admire. 

In Alysa Liu's case, we already knew who she was as she had previously competed at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where she was the youngest American athlete. What we didn’t know at the time, however, was everything that would happen in those four years between 2022 and 2026, and how incredible Liu is both in terms of her athletic performance and overall personality. 

Liu’s journey to Milano Cortina in 2026 is inspirational, but more than that, it goes to show everyone in sports that it is okay to put yourself first, and that when you do, you’re able to find yourself (and your incredible personality) too. 

Alysa Liu posing with her gold medal at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Courtesy of cbc.ca

Early Retirement 

Alysa Liu’s story starts when she was just 5 years old and laced up in skates for the first time. This is not a unique experience for figure skaters, as many reach their peak performance and athletic levels when they’re between 15-18 years old. Fun fact: typically, the youngest athletes at the Winter Olympics are figure skaters. Liu was competing internationally by the time she was 13, and by the time she was 16, she was ready for her next big challenge: the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

The Olympics are the ‘best-on-best’ for a reason. Liu was a standout when competing against others her own age, and her performance in 2022 was no different. Though she finished in seventh and didn’t win a medal for the United States, her appearance at the Olympics was enough. Many 16-year-olds are still figuring out their lives, so Liu competing at an International level that young was certainly extraordinary. 

So maybe that’s why it was a shock when, shortly after the Olympics, Liu announced her retirement. 

16-year-old Liu skating at the women's single skating short program in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Courtesy of teamusa.com

In an Instagram post in April of 2022, the then 16-year-old stated that skating, "simply wasn’t fun anymore", and that she felt pressured to compete and didn’t enjoy stepping onto the ice. She felt that the Olympics were the ultimate end goal, and having accomplished that, she had earned the right to step back and enjoy life outside of the sport. 

Liu may have only been 16 when she made that choice, but it was absolutely the right one. In sports like figure skating, sometimes the healthy thing to do is take a step back. When you’re 16 and watching what you eat, getting told how you can look, and having millions of people scrutinizing you online, how can you expect to grow up? How can you expect to have fun, to be a teenager, and flourish? 

Many figure skaters can’t answer that. But Liu can, and we’re proud of her for it. 

Liu at a training session in Milan ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Courtesy of latimes.com

American Royalty 

Okay, perhaps calling Liu 'American royalty’ is a bit of an exaggeration, but after her performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics, she definitely deserves it. 

Athletes make comebacks from injuries all the time: Colorado Avalanche Captain Gabe Landeskog is just one example, as he came back to hockey three years after suffering a completely torn Achilles tendon. What’s a little rarer, however, is an athlete making a comeback to a highly competitive sport four years after they’ve even practiced. 

As Alysa Liu keeps proving to us, anything is possible. 

After announcing her retirement in 2022, Liu intended to live a normal teenage life. Her Instagram highlights all of her adventures, and beyond giving us a bit of a scope into her personality, it also shows that she truly was like anyone else: a normal teenager. 

Liu's smile features her iconic frenulum piercing that she did herself. Courtesy of cbs8.com

But we suppose we’ll have to thank skiing, after all that. In early 2024, Liu went skiing for the first time, and later stated that the adrenaline rush she got from this reignited her passion for skating. She’d learned from her mistakes, though, and didn’t jump back into the sport right away – instead, she did it on her own terms. There was no more being told what she had to look like, no more being told what she had to perform, no more being inauthentic. This approach is a bit unconventional for figure skating, but Liu made it work perfectly.

So perfect, in fact, that she finally got to test out the age-old question for herself: Is an Olympic Gold Medal actually chocolate? 

(Obviously not. But we think that if anyone deserved it to be, it was her!) In her first Olympics since the 2022 games that sparked her retirement, Liu, combined with the two other American figure skaters who went on to become quite the trio, contributed to winning her country gold for the first time in 20 years. 

Liu reacting to her gold medal performance. Courtesy of yahoosports.com

Staying True to Herself 

So why did Liu come back to figure skating? 

That’s not a simple question. But true to Liu’s character, she had an easy answer. “I had almost no autonomy when I was a kid,” she explained in an Interview with Cosmopolitan. “I didn’t like my programs . . . this time, I’m really passionate.” 

And her passion paid off. Beyond causally, you know, winning a gold medal for the USA, Liu also found friends in American skaters Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito, who have now been referred to as the 'Blade Angels'. Despite this being Liu’s second Olympics, she – and the world – remember the 2026 games much more than the 2022 games, and the gold medal that may or may not be chocolate has nothing to do with it. 

Liu, after winning gold and repping an American flag. Courtesy of thescore.com

In a letter that she wrote to herself when she was 13, Liu asked, “Did you go to the Olympics? . . . Did you end climate change?” We’re not sure if she can check that last box off (but who knows what she’s up to behind the scenes), but she certainly can tell her younger self she accomplished the first. It’s one thing to go to the Olympics, it’s another to win gold, and it’s another to do that while advocating for mental health in a sport as intense as figure skating. 

Liu might be older now, but her maturation has nothing to do with the difference between the 2022 games and the 2026 ones. She continues to prove that sometimes, to be the best at your sport, you have to step away and give yourself time to process – a subject that remains taboo in today’s world. She might have won gold at this year’s Olympics, but more than that, she won the world’s heart over, which feels infinitely more important. 

(Unless that gold medal really was chocolate…?)

Edited by Olivia Feldgus