Alysa Liu’s comeback is golden.
Less than two years out of work, Liu captured America’s first medal in women’s figure skating in 20 years – and it’s gold for the first time since 2002.
She is the eighth American to win gold in women’s figure skating.
She is the eighth American to win gold in women’s figure skating.
With a flawless, high-energy performance, Liu laughed off the pressure and rose from third place after the short program to the top of the podium.
He jumped ahead of the Japanese team of Kaiori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai.
Nkai, 17, took the lead after the short program.
He missed a triple-triple combination but landed a triple axel and fell to third place again.
Sakamoto won the silver medal.
Liu and her American teammate Amber Glenn were holding each other up and holding hands as they waited for Nakai’s score.
Not so, Liu’s 226.79 points set the pace.
Dressed in a gold costume that set the tone, Liu started with a triple flip, combined her triple lutz with a triple toe and went from there with a high-energy performance complete with twists and ice dances.
He jumped up and down on the ice to meet his coaches.
A look of opportunity flashed across his face as his 150 free skate score flashed across the court.
It was the culmination of a comeback story from the April 2022 retirement due to skating fatigue after winning the national championship as a youth event in 2019.
By March 2024, Liu was back on the ice and on track to win silver at the next two national championships.
Glenn came fifth and American Isabeau Levito also came in 12thth.
Glenn’s redeeming rebound – a nearly flawless performance with great use of his signature axel and only injured by touching the ice on his final jump – was rewarded with his best free skate score of 147.42. It pushed his combined score to 214.91 and earned him provisional first place.
Glenn, 26, actually stayed in first place for the next eight skaters – all of whom were ahead of him after the short program.
That group included Mount Holly, NJ’s Isabeau Levito, who dropped from eighth place.
Levito, 18, fell on his first jump — a nine-point deduction on a triple flip — and his recovery from his best performance wasn’t enough.
He didn’t add an unmarked triple to the lineup to make up for the lost points.
The first trip of the Olympic youth was all about fun and the idea that you can’t “kick” him out of spending a night in the area.
Levito first burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old national champion in 2023, took silver at the 2024 World Championships and was retiring from nationals last month.
In the end, one technical error in the short program – doubling the loop three times to draw seven points, which cost more if you fell instead – cost Glenn the medal.
Maybe even gold because many other skaters fell under the pressure of chasing Glenn, who used a triple loop in his long program.
He ended his show pumping his fist and snapping his fingers together while saying “too close.”
The first to unseat Glenn was Japan’s Mone Chiba who finished fourth after the short program.
