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.
