Alysa Liu had been here before — in the sense that she had been one of America's best figure skaters since she was 13 years old. But she had never been here before. Not on an Olympic podium, not with the gold medal around her neck, not with an entire country watching.
At the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Liu delivered the performance of her career when it mattered most — 226.79 combined points, a gold medal, and a moment that crystallized what had always been apparent to anyone paying attention: this skater was born for the big stage.
Who Is Alysa Liu?
Alysa Liu became the youngest US figure skating national champion in history when she won the title in January 2019 at 13 years old. She did it by landing a quad lutz and quad flip in competition — jumps that grown women rarely attempt — with an almost baffling ease. The skating world immediately understood it was looking at something rare.
What followed was a career path that, by most measures, would be considered extraordinary — but by the impossible standards Liu had set for herself as a teenager, was a story of waiting for the moment to fully arrive.
She won back-to-back US national titles in 2019 and 2020, missed the 2022 Beijing Olympics due to age restrictions on the US team, continued developing her programs and artistry, and arrived at the 2026 US Championships — which she won for a third time — as the clear frontrunner for the Olympic team.
At Milan-Cortina, she delivered.
The Olympic Performance
Liu's short program was a statement. Clean technique, visible joy, musicality that had deepened noticeably from earlier in her career. She sat near the top of the standings and looked like a skater who wasn't trying not to fall — she was skating to win.
The free skate sealed it. Her program, set in part to "Promise" by Laufey, was performed with the kind of presence that separates good skaters from great ones. Her halo-style hair accessory became an immediate talking point on social media, but the skating underneath it was the real story. Every element, every transition, every held edge communicated confidence and craft.
226.79 points. Gold medal. The first American women's figure skating Olympic gold since 2006.
What Made This Different
Liu's win resonated beyond just the result. For years, the conversation around her career had focused on what hadn't happened yet — the Olympic appearance she'd been too young for, the world title that had eluded her. Milan-Cortina answered all of it at once.
"I've been waiting for this for so long," Liu said after the free skate. "And I just wanted to go out there and skate for me."
The American team had strong overall results at the games — the US won the team event gold, Chock and Bates earned silver in ice dance — but Liu's individual title was the emotional centerpiece. American figure skating had its face of a new generation.
The Competition Behind Her
Silver went to Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, the reigning world champion and one of the sport's most consistent performers. Sakamoto's skating was technically sound and emotionally compelling — on another night, it might have been gold. Nakai Ami, also Japanese, took bronze in what was a strong overall showing for Japanese women's figure skating.
Amber Glenn, the three-time US national champion who had been Liu's domestic rival for several seasons, skated with tremendous emotional power and landed a triple axel in the team event — one of the rarest accomplishments in women's figure skating. Glenn finished just outside the medals but left Milan-Cortina having demonstrated exactly who she is as a competitor.
The Bigger Picture for American Figure Skating
Liu's gold comes at a moment when American figure skating feels like it's building toward something. Ilia Malinin — despite his Olympics disappointment in the men's event — has been the dominant force in men's figure skating for three consecutive seasons. Chock and Bates are among the finest ice dancers of their generation. Glenn has triple axel capability and the competitive fire to match.
For young skaters watching Liu skate on that Olympic ice, the inspiration is obvious. She started with a Learn to Skate program. She found a coach who believed in her. She worked, and then she worked more, and eventually she stood at the top of the podium.
If that makes you want to find a rink and try skating for yourself, that's exactly the right instinct. Use our rink finder to locate a Learn to Skate program near you — the first step looks a lot different from where Alysa Liu ended up, but it starts in the same place.