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EspañolRising skating star Alysa Liu captured two Olympic gold medals in Milan, first helping the U.S. win the team event and then claiming the women’s singles title on Feb. 19. The 20-year-old Oakland, California, native delivered a decisive free skate to secure her individual victory with 226.79 points. In doing so, she became the first woman since Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games to win Olympic singles gold, ending a 24-year drought for U.S. women in the event.
“I think that everything, even [the first part of] my skating career and the time I spent away from the sport and coming back, everything has led to this; has led to that performance,” Liu told Olympics.com.
From teen phenom to champion
Born in Clovis and raised in Oakland, Liu is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her father, Arthur Liu, emigrated from Sichuan province and raised five children in the Bay Area. She began skating at age 5 and quickly emerged as one of the sport’s most technically ambitious young athletes, landing multiple triple axels as a teenager.
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In 2019, Liu became the youngest U.S. women’s national champion in history at age 13. She later won bronze at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships and finished sixth at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Shortly after Beijing, she announced her retirement from elite competition, saying she felt satisfied with her career at the time.
She resumed full-time training in 2024 after nearly two years away from competition. In January 2025, she earned silver at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Two months later, she captured gold at the World Figure Skating Championships, becoming the first American woman to win a world title since 2006.
Immigrant champion
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Liu has added her voice to fellow U.S. athletes who have spoken out about immigration enforcement during the 2026 Winter Games, as the Trump administration intensified deportation efforts and expanded federal immigration raids. The crackdown has prompted protests in several cities, including in California, where Liu was raised.
“I definitely do really care about what our country is doing, and I think it is really important also to, you know, notice, like, the faults in our own government. Yeah, very similar to my dad,” she said. “Yeah, things are a little rough, a little rough in our country, but I think every government has its issues.”
She also acknowledged participating in demonstrations. “There’s so many protests that are going on and I’ve attended,” Liu said. “Coming from a family of immigrants, I think immigrants deserve rights.”
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Milan’s defining performance
Liu entered the Olympic individual competition in Milan as the reigning world champion but trailed after the short program. Skating to “Promise” by Chinese Icelandic singer Laufey, she scored 76.59 points, highlighted by a triple Lutz-triple loop combination placed in the second half for a 10% bonus despite an under-rotation call. Her free skate to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite” delivered the highest segment score of the night at 150.20. Liu completed seven triples and four doubles and received no negative grades of execution.
“I mean, it was just bliss,” she said after her winning performance. “I was so happy to be there. I felt like I was floating; and I felt the crowd carried me. I did everything I wanted to do.” She has framed her return to competition as a personal decision rooted in renewed perspective rather than pressure. “The most important part of my story is human connection,” she said. “That’s all I want in my life, human connection.”
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Liu’s Olympic success has also prompted renewed comparisons to Eileen Gu, another athlete of Chinese heritage born and raised in the Bay Area, who won gold in women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe and silver medals in both slopestyle and big air at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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