Alysa Liu dazzled the crowds at the Winter Olympics Milano-Cortina and claimed gold in women's figure skating on Thursday, winning likely USA's last gold medal in the Games, Liu's second gold medal in this Games after the Team Event on February 6. Liu skated to the music of Donna Summer, MacArthur Park Suite, and earned 226.79 points overall with a series of seven triple jumps.
Liu became the first American to win an individual gold medal in figure skating since Sarah Hughes in 2002, and the first woman to win any individual medal in figure skating overall for the US since Sasha Cohen in 2006.
Alysa Liu retired in 2022 at the age of 16, but returned and became World Champion and Olympic Gold
Liu, 20 years old, became one of the youngest skaters to win multiple national titles in the US, but retired from skating at age 16, after the Beijing 2022 Olympics, because skating took up most of her life and sometimes she didn't enjoy it. However, she returned in 2024, taking more creative control on her choices, which led to her first World Championships in Boston in 2025, improving from the bronze she won at the World Championships in 2022.
Liu bested the Japanese Kaori Sakamoto for only 1.89 points, and Sakamoto was left in tears realising she had missed her last chance to win a gold medal, as she will retire before the next Winter Olympics, but she found solace in becoming a coach to help somebody else win a gold medal.