“Liu, then 4-foot-7, won the 2019 U.S. Championships at 13,” CBS News’ 60 Minutes says. In NBC Sports’ words, “Liu, who in 2019 became the youngest U.S. champion in history at age 13,” did it “when she broke Tara Lipinski’s record as youngest U.S. champion.” “I started when I was 5 and I basically didn’t stop until 16, and I was homeschooled my whole life,” she told NBC News. “I was literally just like a dress-up doll and I didn’t want to do it, but I felt like I had to do my duty of going to the Olympics for my younger self.”
“By the time she retired from figure skating at the age of 16 in April 2022,” as NBC News puts it, she had competed at the Beijing Olympics and won “bronze at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France.” “She retired two years earlier — at age 16 — after finishing sixth at the Beijing Olympics,” NPR says; “She called it quits in an Instagram post,” CBS says. “She went to Nepal and trekked to Everest Base Camp.” “I was finally able to hang out with my siblings, do stuff with them like a normal family,” she told NBC News, and “I felt so human for the first time.”
That lasted “until January 2024, when she went skiing in Lake Tahoe. It was during that trip when she hit the slopes that she realized how much she missed an adrenaline rush,” NBC News says. She “is making this comeback on her own terms,” CBS says. “I get to pick my own program music. I get to help with the creative process of the program,” she told 60 Minutes. In Boston in March 2025, NBC Sports reported, “Alysa Liu is the first U.S. women’s singles figure skater to win a world title in 19 years”; “Liu is the first U.S. women’s singles skater to win a world title since Kimmie Meissner in 2006.”
At the Milano Cortina Olympics in February 2026, “Liu dazzled the Milano Ice Skating Arena,” NPR says, with “her joyful free skate, set to Donna Summer’s ‘MacArthur Park Suite’ and loaded with sassy poses, effortless-looking triple jumps and an ear-to-ear grin.” She finished “with a combined score of 226.79 to secure first place,” NBC Bay Area says, and “She also claimed gold earlier in these Olympics in the team event.” NPR counts two golds, “one from the team event and one in the individual — the first for a U.S. woman since Sarah Hughes in 2002”; NBC Bay Area: “Liu has now secured the United States’ first gold medal in women’s singles since 2002, when Sarah Hughes won in Salt Lake City.” “I don’t need this,” she said about the hunk of gold, NPR reported. “But what I needed was the stage, and I got that, so I was all good no matter what happened.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- She became US champion at 13, but at 16, she quit. CBS News: “Liu, then 4-foot-7, won the 2019 U.S. Championships at 13.” … “She called it quits in an Instagram post.” NBC Sports: she “retired at 16 after a world bronze medal in 2022.” 14
- Her name is Alysa Liu, a figure skater from the United States. NBC Sports: “Alysa Liu is the first U.S. women’s singles figure skater to win a world title in 19 years.” 4
- The youngest US champion in history. NBC Sports (2025): “Liu, who in 2019 became the youngest U.S. champion in history at age 13.” NBC Sports (2022): “when she broke Tara Lipinski’s record as youngest U.S. champion.” 45
- She’d skated since she was five, and basically never stopped. Liu, to NBC News: “I started when I was 5 and I basically didn’t stop until 16, and I was homeschooled my whole life.” 2
- She later said she felt like a dress-up doll. Liu, to NBC News: “I was literally just like a dress-up doll and I didn’t want to do it, but I felt like I had to do my duty of going to the Olympics for my younger self.” 2
- In 2022, after the Beijing Olympics, she retired. NBC News: “By the time she retired from figure skating at the age of 16 in April 2022.” NPR: “She retired two years earlier — at age 16 — after finishing sixth at the Beijing Olympics.” 23
- She trekked to Everest Base Camp, and spent time with her siblings. CBS News: “She went to Nepal and trekked to Everest Base Camp.” Liu, to NBC News: “I was finally able to hang out with my siblings, do stuff with them like a normal family.” 12
- “I felt so human for the first time,” she said. Liu, to NBC News: “I felt so human for the first time.” 2
- Then a ski trip brought back the rush. NBC News: “until January 2024, when she went skiing in Lake Tahoe. It was during that trip when she hit the slopes that she realized how much she missed an adrenaline rush.” 2
- She came back, but on her own terms. CBS News: she “is making this comeback on her own terms.” NBC News, in its headline: “going for gold on her own terms.” 12
- She picks her own music, and helps create her programs. Liu, to CBS News: “I get to pick my own program music. I get to help with the creative process of the program.” 1
- In 2025, she became world champion. NBC Sports, from Boston, March 28, 2025: “Alysa Liu is the first U.S. women’s singles figure skater to win a world title in 19 years”; “Liu is the first U.S. women’s singles skater to win a world title since Kimmie Meissner in 2006.” 4
- Then came the Milan Cortina Olympics. NPR: “Liu dazzled the Milano Ice Skating Arena.” 3
- She skated grinning ear to ear, and won gold. NPR: “her joyful free skate, set to Donna Summer’s ‘MacArthur Park Suite’ and loaded with sassy poses, effortless-looking triple jumps and an ear-to-ear grin.” NBC Bay Area: “finishing with a combined score of 226.79 to secure first place.” 36
- The first American woman to win it since 2002. NPR: “one from the team event and one in the individual — the first for a U.S. woman since Sarah Hughes in 2002.” NBC Bay Area: “Liu has now secured the United States’ first gold medal in women’s singles since 2002, when Sarah Hughes won in Salt Lake City.” 36
- “I don’t need this,” she said of the medal. NPR: “‘I don’t need this,’ she said about the hunk of gold.” 3
- “What I needed,” she said, “was the stage.” NPR: “‘But what I needed was the stage, and I got that, so I was all good no matter what happened.’” 3
Sources
- Figure skater Alysa Liu makes improbable comeback with new rules, new style and a new approach (Sharyn Alfonsi, 60 Minutes, January 4, 2026) CBS News
- Alysa Liu retired at only 16. Now, the figure skater is back — and going for gold on her own terms (Rohan Nadkarni, January 7, 2026) NBC News
- U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu said she didn’t care if she medaled. She won gold (Rachel Treisman, February 19, 2026) NPR, via WAMC
- Alysa Liu is first U.S. woman to win figure skating world title in 19 years (Nick Zaccardi, March 28, 2025) NBC Sports
- Alysa Liu retires from figure skating competition at age 16 (April 9, 2022) NBC Sports
- American Alysa Liu earns gold medal in women’s figure skating event (February 19, 2026) NBC Bay Area
Notes
Her Beijing placing: NBC Sports said seventh in April 2022; NPR, CBS and NBC said sixth in 2026, after the results were revised. The Short gives no placing.
“Burnout”: news reports use the word, but she hasn’t named a condition, so the Short uses only her own words (“dress-up doll,” “I felt so human for the first time”). Nothing about her health or diet is used, and family details reported elsewhere are left out; her siblings aren’t named or shown, and the Short uses only her own public words about spending time with them.
When she came back: after the ski trip of January 2024 (NBC News); CBS dates her announced return to March 2024 and her return to full-time training to June 2024. The Short says only that she came back.
“Since 2002”: NPR calls it the first gold for a US woman since Sarah Hughes in 2002, and NBC Bay Area the first US gold in women’s singles since then; she had also won gold in the team event earlier in the same Games (NBC Bay Area). “Grinning ear to ear” is NPR’s description of her free skate; we make no claim about view counts.
Pictures: Every photo shows Alysa Liu herself except the two places. The lines about her title at 13 show her later in 2019, at the 2019–20 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in December and the Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid in August; there is no free photo of the January 2019 national championships. Her short program and free skate at the 2022 World Championships in Montpellier, in March 2022, stand in for the Beijing Olympics, of which there is no free photo. The prayer flags at Everest Base Camp (2016) and the Heavenly ski resort at Lake Tahoe (February 2023) show the places, not her trips. Her comeback seasons are her long program at Skate Canada in Halifax (October 2024) and practice and her free skate at the 2025 World Championships in Boston (March 2025). Her portrait at the medal ceremony of the 2026 US Championships is from January 2026. The Olympic photos are from the Games themselves: practice in Milan on February 17, 2026, and the free skate and the medal ceremony on February 19, 2026, with her Milano Cortina 2026 gold medal.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Satie, Gymnopedie No. 1 (Lent et douloureux) (Robin Alciatore, piano, public domain); Grieg, Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46: I. Morning Mood (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, public domain); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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