Alysa Liu

**Alysa Liu** (born August 8, 2005) is an American figure skater. She won gold medals in singles and the team competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Liu is a two-time U.S. Champion in singles (2019 and 2020). Following the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she placed eighth in singles, Liu retired from competitive figure skating. After over two years away from competition, Liu resumed her career in the fall of 2024. In March 2025, she won the World Championship in singles.

At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, Liu became the first women's singles gold medalist for the United States since Sarah Hughes in 2002.

## Early life 
Alysa Liu was born on August 8, 2005, in Clovis, California, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, mainly in Oakland. Liu began skating at the age of 5, and by the age of 7, she was already competing at national levels. Her father, Arthur Liu, is a Chinese dissident who went into exile in 1989 because of the Tiananmen Square Protests.

Liu went to Chinese school for three years before going to Oakland School for the Arts. When Liu started missing too many classes for travel because of figure skating competitions, she went to California Connections Academy and began homeschooling at her father's law office in between practices. Liu graduated from high school in June 2021 at age 15. In fall 2023, she began going to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

## Olympic career
### 2022 Olympics
On August 30, 2021, US Figure Skating announced that Liu had been picked to compete at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, with the goal of qualifying a spot for American women at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Liu came in first in both parts of the competition to take the gold medal and the first of six available Olympic places. Liu was the overall women's winner on the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series.

At the 2022 U.S. Championships in Nashville, Liu placed third in the short program, scoring 71.42 points. She was forced to withdraw from the event after testing positive for COVID-19. She successfully petitioned to be included on the 2022 U.S. Winter Olympic team, alongside Mariah Bell and Karen Chen. Liu was the youngest athlete named to the American Olympic team.

In the women's event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Liu placed eighth in the short program. She moved up to seventh place in the free skate. 

On April 9, 2022, Liu announced on Instagram that she was retiring from figure skating because she felt good with her career.

### 2026 Olympics
In January 2026, she was named to the U.S. team for the 2026 Winter Olympics On February 6, Liu took part in the team event, placing second behind Kaori Sakamoto in theshort program. Liu's result with those of her teammates helped earn an Olympic gold medal for Team USA.

On February 17, Liu competed in the short program segment of the women's singles event, earning a personal-best score and placing third behind Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto. Two days later, Liu competed in the free skate segment. Her performance won the free skate, made her personal-best combined total score, and helped her win the gold medal. She became the first American woman to win a medal in figure skating at the Olympics since Sasha Cohen in 2006 and the first to win gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002.

## Personal life
Liu has talked about being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Liu has also openly spoke about immigrant rights in the United States.

## References
## Other websites
* 
* Alysa Liu at U.S. Figure Skating
* Alysa Liu at Milano Cortina 2026