BOSTON — On April 9, 2022, Alysa Liu announced her retirement from figure skating. She was only 16, but it strangely made sense. All the early mornings, the rigorous training, the unrelenting pressure, the moments of her childhood she was missing: it was time for her to do something else.
She had become the youngest U.S. women’s champion ever at 13, then she won the national title again at 14. She was so tiny that the skaters she defeated had to pull her up to the top rung of the medal podium. At 16, she competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, finishing sixth. She won the bronze medal at the 2022 world championships a month later, then soon afterward posted on Instagram that she was done with the sport.
“I’m going to be moving on with my life,” Liu wrote.
Flash forward to Friday night, March 28, 2025. Liu, now 19 and unretired, sailed through her triple jumps as if without a care in the world in her four-minute long program, delivering a breezy, delightful and whimsical performance to become the first U.S. woman in 19 years to win the world championship — with the 2026 Winter Olympic Games little more than 10 months away.
“Just what the hell?” Liu said when she was done, laughing as she perfectly summed up one of the most remarkable comeback stories in her sport’s history. Skaters don’t just disappear, reappear and then win world titles — but that’s exactly what Liu just did.
“Even yesterday, I didn’t expect this,” she said, referring to holding the lead after Wednesday’s short program. “I didn’t have expectations coming in. I never have expectations coming into competitions anymore. It’s more of what I can put out performance-wise and I really met my expectations on that part today.”
She was competing with a new-found freedom, given a second chance at the sport and a life she loves. She cartwheeled through the entry walkway before taking the ice for the short program, and she did it again Friday night when her name was called for the medal ceremony. In this pressure-packed sport where one stumble on the slippery ice can ruin the dreams of a lifetime, few if any have handled their nerves better than Liu did here over the past three days.
It was noticeable to her competitors. “I feel like her cheerfulness, her kindness and the way she’s always so happy brought her to this position on top of the podium,” said three-time defending champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, who finished second. “In fact, I would say something has changed because she’s more bright, she’s happier now.”
In the time she was away from skating, Liu attended UCLA and did things she never was allowed to do when she was competing, like going skiing for the first time. Trying out a new sport ended up rekindling her love for her first one, so about a year ago, she began practicing again, hoping to get back into skating shape. Whatever her goal was, it definitely wasn’t this.
She became the first American woman to win a world title since Kimmie Meissner in 2006, but there’s a difference in the timing, and significance, of those titles. Meissner won hers a month after the Olympic Games, while Liu’s victory leads right into the Olympic year. She has now become a medal favorite for the Milan Games, and if she were to win an Olympic medal of any color, she would become the first American woman to do so since Sasha Cohen won the silver medal in 2006, and before that, Sarah Hughes won the gold and Michelle Kwan the bronze in 2002.
Whatever comes next for Liu will be both fascinating and unexpected. “I have never regretted anything in my life,” she said. “Every decision I’ve made, I’m so glad I did. It really brought me to this moment.”
A second chance at 19. Who wouldn’t take that?