Traditional femininity and effortless beauty has been the standard of women’s figure skating for generations. People often imagine a distinguished athlete, gliding across the ice with the grace of a ballerina and the pressure of an entire country on her back. Two-time olympian Alysa Liu challenges this custom to its core as she makes her way through the 2026 Olympic Games.
Many figure skating fans know Liu by the halos in her hair, the piercing in her upper lip, her unique personal style and of course her refreshing attitude on and off the ice. But casual watchers may not know just how incredible her story is.
Liu began figure skating when she was only five years old after her dad, Arther Liu took her to the Oakland Ice Center located in Oakland, California. Arther Liu grew up in Southwestern, China. He would be forced to leave China at twenty-five years old due to his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, he told NBC Sports. He then relocated to California where he earned a law degree from University of California and began his career as a legal general practitioner. Through surrogacy and anonymous egg donors, he became a single dad to five children, Alysa being his oldest. Arther Liu was heavily involved in his daughter’s skating throughout her childhood. In a 60 minutes interview, Arther Liu told an interviewer, “I spared no money, no time.” Alysa had little say in her skating career at this time.
Liu’s rigorous training was certainly paying off. At just thirteen years old, Liu became the youngest female national champion, surpassing Tara Lipinski. She was also the first US woman to land a quad jump in competition, the first woman in the world to land a quad jump and a triple axel in the same program during a competition, and the first US woman to land three axels in competition. At sixteen years old, she attended the 2022 Beijing Olympics, placing sixth.
Despite her overwhelming success, Liu was burnt out. A few months after the 2022 Beijing Olympics and just a few weeks after winning bronze at the World Championships, she shared with fans that she felt her career had come to a satisfying conclusion and she officially retired from figure skating. Liu told 60 minutes that she had been thinking about quitting for over a year prior to her announcement. She explained that when her rink closed due to the 2020 Global Pandemic, she finally got to take a break, “I was like wow, this is what a break feels like. And then I was like, I really like not skating.”
During this pivotal time in Liu’s life, she attended University of California, Los Angeles and spent her time not only catching up with friends and family but discovering herself. She would get the chance to be a normal teenager which meant unlocking her own sense of self. She began adding a new ring of color to her hair every December, gave herself a “Smiley” piercing, and stepped away from the athletic clothing, adopting a unique and alternative personal style that was unheard of in Women’s figure skating.
After a nearly two-year hiatus, Liu took a ski trip and couldn’t help but miss the ice after experiencing a feeling remarkably similar to skating, soaring down the slopes. “I love sports. I like moving. I also love music and I love dancing. That’s literally skating,” she told The Guardian. A fervor was pulling her back to the sport she left behind so confidently, and Liu knew she wanted to come back. However, with her return, came conditions. She would pick the music, the costumes, and help with the creative process, something Liu hadn’t ever gotten the opportunity to do, and this is what made all the difference.
After less than a year out of retirement, Liu won the 2025 World Championships, scoring international personal bests and qualifying for the 2026 Olympics, making her comeback one of the greatest in figure skating history.
During the 2026 Olympics, Liu won gold in the figure skating team event and scored a personal best of 76.59 in the women’s single short program, putting her in third place temporarily, the final podium to be determined following the women’s single free skate on February 19.
Regardless of the results to come of this year’s Olympic games, when Liu steps on the ice to perform, her excitement and positivity electrifies the entire rink. Her skating isn’t about perfection and medals but rather a complete love for the art of figure skating. She is no longer a child doing exactly what she’s told to appease her coaches but instead a young woman, skating for herself. No pressure, just passion. She brings a refreshingly new approach to figure skating, setting the blueprint for a challenge in conformity by newer generations of skaters.
Liu doesn’t see herself as an athlete, but instead an artist. This is what makes her skating so mesmerizing, she doesn’t seem to have any worries when she skates, she’s simply doing what she loves, and she may just happen to win an Olympic medal while she’s doing it.