MILAN (AP) — Alysa Liu has given the U.S. its first Olympic gold medal for women’s figure skating in 24 years. She performed a near-flawless free skate on Thursday night in a glittering gold dress, leaving Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai behind. Milan Cortina Games.
The 20-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area who had walked away from the sport after the Beijing Games four years ago only to launch a remarkable comeback, finishing with a career-best 226.79 points.
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Nakai and Sakamoto, who skated right behind her, each made a mistake in a combination series, and that made the difference in the medals.
Sakamoto scored 224.90 points to earn silver to add to her bronze from Beijing. Nakai finished third with 219.16 points.
The moment Nakai’s score was read after the final program of the evening, American teammate Amber Glenn jumped onto the kiss-and-cry stand and raised Liu’s hand in triumph. Liu sheepishly turned to applaud 17-year-old Nakai, who ran over and hugged her.
It was the first individual gold medal for an American woman since 2002, when Sarah Hughes topped the podium in Salt Lake City, and it was Liu’s second gold at the Cortina Games in Milan. She helped the Americans win team gold.
Stephanie Scarbrough via Associated Press
The medal blended in perfectly with her gold sequin dress, with only the blue ribbon standing out. And it seemed to be the perfect complement to the golden streaks through her dark brown hair, which were meant to resemble the annual rings of a tree.
Liu has experienced a lot of growing up over the years.
She was the youngest-ever American champion when she won the first of consecutive titles at the age of 13. But after finishing sixth at the Beijing Games, Liu was so burned out that she abruptly retired. Over the next two years, she did things on her bucket list, like climbing Mount Everest base camp and enrolling at UCLA, where she studies psychology.
It was after a ski trip, when Liu felt the same adrenaline rush that comes with skating, that she started thinking about her comeback. But this time she would skate on her terms, happier and more confident than she had been as a childhood prodigy.
Even during warmups Thursday night, she skated with a grin on her face and never showed any sign of pressure.
Stephanie Scarbrough via Associated Press
Meanwhile, Glenn finished in fifth place behind Japan’s Mone Chiba, a stunning rebound from her disastrous short program Tuesday evening. Glenn’s best free skate of the season yielded a score of 214.91 points, and it also earned her about a podium finish.
Glenn first pumped her and fought back tears as her score was read, then she sat in the new “leader’s chair.”
She sat there for a long time.
Stephanie Scarbrough via Associated Press
Adeliia Petrosian, the 18-year-old Russian who competed as a neutral athlete at the Milan Cortina Games, attempted the only quadruple jump in the women’s competition but fell on the quad-toe loop. She was clean the rest of the way, but the points Petrosian lost in that fall left her less than half a point behind Glenn in the leader’s seat.
It was Chiba – the ninth skater to follow the three-time American champion – who ultimately took over the top spot.
That didn’t last long as Liu was next on the ice.
The reigning world champion – that title, by the way, was the first for an American in just 19 years – was perfect from her first triple flip to her final combination sequence. As the final stretches of Donna Summer’s rendition of “MacArthur Park” ended and the roar of the fans filled the void, the carefree Liu gave a nonchalant flick of her ponytail as if to say, “So what?”
Her coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, were a little more boisterous. They punched the air and gave each other a big hug before going over to greet their star student as she stepped off the ice to await her score.
The score that would ultimately earn her an Olympic title and end a long drought for American women.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
