“I love struggling, actually. It makes me feel alive.” – Alysa Liu
At just 16 years old, Alysa Liu had checked off every box on the figure skating bucket list: winning national titles back-to-back, competing at international events, landing triple axels, and coming in the top ten in women’s skating during the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
While the world awaited to see what was next for her, she did something no one expected: she announced she was hanging up her competitive skates for good.
However, four years later, now 20 years old, she came back better than ever and reclaimed the rink at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan.
Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Liu started her skating journey at just five years old. During those 11 years, she won many accolades, from becoming the first American woman to land a quadruple jump to winning national championships. However, after competing in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing China, Liu had a different idea in mind for what she wanted to do next.
Professional competition, especially in figure skating, can often drive athletes to burnout and immense pressure from coaches and high expectations. Because of this, Liu reflected on her career, and as a result, she decided to pursue a life outside of the sport she had grown to love.
“There was nothing more I wanted than to just be with my friends and my family, and skating had nothing to do with that at that point,” Liu said in a Cosmopolitan interview.
After taking time off to be a teenager and focus on her studies, Liu expressed longing for figure skating, which she finds to be an artistic outlet for her to express herself.
“Skating gave me something to be strong for. I love having willpower. I used to never care about programs, what you skated to, your dresses, stuff like that. Now, I love skating dresses and helping with the design process. This sport is kind of an outlet for me,” Liu said.
Following this year’s Olympic games, Alysa Liu became a global phenomenon almost overnight. Audiences fell in love with her mature approach to the immense pressure of competing.
“There’s not many things in life that you do where you have to give 100% of you, you know what I mean?” Liu said, “And I kind of love feeling like I’m on my last breath or I physically cannot do more. I love pushing myself to that boundary.”
To her, if she was going to compete in this sport, it would be on her own terms. And that is exactly what she did. During her performances this year, she took most (if not all) creative control in choreography, music, and costume design.
“I get to help with the creative process of the program. If I feel like I’m skating too much, I’ll back down. If I feel like I’m not skating enough, I’ll ramp it up. No one’s going to starve me, tell me what I can and can’t eat,” Liu said.
And it paid off, as audiences were captivated by her performances to singer Laufey’s “Promise” and “Stateside” by Pink Pantheress and Zara Larson.
As Liu rides the wave of her grand Olympic win, with many magazines featuring her in their issues and even her recent attendance at Paris Fashion Week, she is not quite sure what is next for her. However, she has made it clear she is not quite done with her skating journey yet.
Ultimately, Alysa Liu’s 2026 Olympic win represents a triumph of self-autonomy and finding balance between mental health and competing. Her journey from child prodigy to retirement, only to return bigger than ever, teaches dedicated athletes that success is rooted in passion, and most of all, authenticity.
