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It’s safe to say Alysa Liu has successfully shaken off whatever rust may have existed after she decided to skate competitively again.
Liu, 19, won gold at the world figure skating championships over the weekend in Boston, the first American women’s singles skater to do so since Kimmie Meissner in 2006. It’s pretty heady stuff for someone who retired from the sport in 2022 when she was only 16.
Liu said coming back to the ice was somewhat of a challenge for her.
“It was actually harder to come back than it was to leave,” she said March 31 on TODAY in an interview with Ilia Malinin, the American skater who won the men’s championship.
“I had my retirement planned out a year in advance, but I had to think a lot about whether I really wanted to come back or not, just because I wanted to do what was right for me and for my future. But I think I definitely made the right choice.”
The title is the latest accomplishment for Liu, who was 13 when she became the youngest woman ever to win the United States figure skating title, in 2019. She won the title again at age 14 and finished sixth at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing before taking bronze at the world championships later that year.
Liu’s showing in Boston now begs the question: Is she hoping to make a run at the Olympics?
“I’m definitely still going to go day by day, base it off how I feel, but I definitely think I’ll be skating until the Olympics, for sure. And I’m very excited for it. I really do want to go, so, hopefully,” she said.
When she retired in April 2022, Liu expressed contentment with all she had done on the ice to that point in her career.
“I honestly never thought I would’ve accomplished as much as I did,” she announced in a since-deleted Instagram post. “I’m so happy. I feel so satisfied with how my skating career has gone.”
Fast forward nearly three years, and Liu was amazed at her performance in the world championships.
“I’m not going to lie, this is an insane story! I don’t know how I came back to be world champion,” she said on NBC Sports afterward.
Liu’s victory in Boston was part of a strong showing by the American squad that also featured gold medals for Malinin and married ice dancing partners Madison Chock and Evan Bates — the first time the U.S. won three golds at the world championships.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, are scheduled to begin Feb. 6, 2026.
Drew Weisholtz is a reporter for TODAY Digital, focusing on pop culture, nostalgia and trending stories. He has seen every episode of “Saved by the Bell” at least 50 times, longs to perfect the crane kick from “The Karate Kid” and performs stand-up comedy, while also cheering on the New York Yankees and New York Giants. A graduate of Rutgers University, he is the married father of two kids who believe he is ridiculous.
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