Alysa Liu ended her short program in the Boston 2025 World Championships on March 28, 2025, with a smile on her face and her finger pointing into the sky. The 19-year-old skater from Clovis, California brought the house down with her free skate program, in which she performed to the music of “MacArthur Park” by Donna Summer. However, if you had told Liu a little over a year ago that she would be the winner of the World Championships, she would have called you crazy.
Liu was once considered a rising talent, becoming the youngest United States champion at the age of 13 in 2019. In 2022, she realized a childhood dream of participating in the Winter Olympics and placed the highest of all Americans at sixth. She also won the bronze at the World Championships that same year. Alysa Liu was on top of the world.
Suddenly, then she wasn’t. At the age of 16, Liu posted a retirement announcement on her Instagram account in April of 2022. According to Dave Skretta of NBC Sports Boston, “Liu decided that skating had become less of joy and more of a job.”
Two years earlier, the COVID-19 lockdown was Liu’s “first-ever break,” [as she] had skated mornings and afternoons seven days a week for years. “Once quarantine started, I was like, ‘Wow! This is what not skating is like.’ And I loved it so much,” Liu stated. Her experience resting during quarantine led her to her decision to take a break just a couple of years later.
During Liu’s break, she spent a lot of time connecting with her family, which she was unable to do before because of the stress and constant travel of high-level ice skating. She went on a family vacation to the Himalayas and enrolled at UCLA.
And yet, after a skiing trip with her friends, she still felt the rush of competition and adrenaline and wanted to continue in her career.
After reconnecting with her sport, finding new coaches, and adjusting to training again, Liu became more confident than ever in her sport. Sofia Delgado Bolivar ’27, another student who took a break from sports, said “By resting my body [like Liu did], I was able to improve in other areas of my life and feel more confident in my skills.”
After placing third in the US Championships, Liu moved on to Worlds. The 19-year-old defeated her friend and 3-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto and ended an almost decade-long gold medal drought for the Americans at Worlds.
Of her performance, Liu said, “I never have expectations coming into competitions anymore. It’s more of what I can put out performance-wise, and I really met my expectations on that part today.”
With other amazing Americans Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito placing in third and fifth respectively, Liu and the Americans might be in a spot to fill the hole that the Russians have left for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. Only time will tell how that turns out.
But for now, Alysa Liu’s confidence and grace on the ice have lead her to triple axel into stardom in the hearts of the rest of the skating world.
