Whoever said “quitters never win,” never met Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu. Liu’s figure skating comeback has been remarkable so far: The 20-year-old is a 2025 world figure skating champ and an Olympic gold medalist in the Milan Cortina Games through the figure skating team event.She returns to the Olympic ice on Thursday to perform her free skate in the women’s singles figure skating competition. She sits in third place after the short program and is the top American in those standings.”I’m OK if I do a fail program. I’m totally OK if I do a great program,” she said after the short program, according to the Associated Press. “No matter what the outcome is, it’s still my story.”Looking at her career and why she leftLiu became the youngest U.S. figure skating champ at 13. She’s the first female figure skater to land a quadruple jump in international competition.But at age 16, she announced her retirement from figure skating. Liu said she hated skating by that point and had been planning her exit for a year before she did it. Liu had skated since the age of 5. Skating can be a solitary and controlled sport. She craved teen normalcy, time with friends and freedom. She put her skates in the closet and said she didn’t miss the ice at all. “I left the sport completely,” Liu said. “Like I wouldn’t step in the rink. Honestly, I was low-key traumatized.”Liu spent the next two years making up for lost time. She spent time with her siblings in Oakland, California. She’s the oldest of five kids. She hung out with high school friends, graduated and traveled the world, including hiking in the Himalayas. She enrolled at UCLA and picked up a new sport: skiing. Skiing reminded her of skating because of the sensation of the cold air on her skin. One day, she ventured into a rink with a friend. And, she didn’t hate it. In fact, she enjoyed it. Making a comeback She started skating again for fun and then floated the idea of coming out of retirement to her longtime coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo. “I said, ‘Please don’t.’ I really did. I said, ‘Please don’t. Respect your legacy as an Olympic bronze medalist,'” DiGuglielmo said.DiGuglielmo had coached Liu since she was 5. “We had a Zoom call for two hours,” DiGuglielmo said. “The story is, I had a lot of glasses of wine over those two hours. And she talked me into a comeback.”Liu and DiGuglielmo resumed training for just seven months, and she won the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships. DiGuglielmo said no one has taken a two-year break from skating and pulled off such a feat. “It makes me think if I was one of those athletes, I’d be like, ‘Why did I just skate for the last year? I could have taken a vacation for two years. But that’s Alysa. She’s different,” DiGuglielmo said. Liu pointed out that she left her sport while still in puberty. At 20, she’s physically and mentally stronger. And, she’s competing on her own terms, taking an active role in choreography, competition and training. “I have a perspective not many of the athletes in the sport have,” Liu said. “So many people, their goal is the Olympics, and when they get there, and it’s over, they don’t know what to do. I’m really just doing this for fun.”PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
Whoever said “quitters never win,” never met Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.
Liu’s figure skating comeback has been remarkable so far: The 20-year-old is a 2025 world figure skating champ and an Olympic gold medalist in the Milan Cortina Games through the figure skating team event.
She returns to the Olympic ice on Thursday to perform her free skate in the women’s singles figure skating competition. She sits in third place after the short program and is the top American in those standings.
“I’m OK if I do a fail program. I’m totally OK if I do a great program,” she said after the short program, according to the Associated Press. “No matter what the outcome is, it’s still my story.”
Looking at her career and why she left
Liu became the youngest U.S. figure skating champ at 13. She’s the first female figure skater to land a quadruple jump in international competition.
But at age 16, she announced her retirement from figure skating. Liu said she hated skating by that point and had been planning her exit for a year before she did it.
Liu had skated since the age of 5. Skating can be a solitary and controlled sport. She craved teen normalcy, time with friends and freedom. She put her skates in the closet and said she didn’t miss the ice at all.
“I left the sport completely,” Liu said. “Like I wouldn’t step in the rink. Honestly, I was low-key traumatized.”
Liu spent the next two years making up for lost time. She spent time with her siblings in Oakland, California. She’s the oldest of five kids. She hung out with high school friends, graduated and traveled the world, including hiking in the Himalayas. She enrolled at UCLA and picked up a new sport: skiing.
Skiing reminded her of skating because of the sensation of the cold air on her skin. One day, she ventured into a rink with a friend. And, she didn’t hate it. In fact, she enjoyed it.
Making a comeback
She started skating again for fun and then floated the idea of coming out of retirement to her longtime coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo.
“I said, ‘Please don’t.’ I really did. I said, ‘Please don’t. Respect your legacy as an Olympic bronze medalist,'” DiGuglielmo said.
DiGuglielmo had coached Liu since she was 5.
“We had a Zoom call for two hours,” DiGuglielmo said. “The story is, I had a lot of glasses of wine over those two hours. And she talked me into a comeback.”
Liu and DiGuglielmo resumed training for just seven months, and she won the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships. DiGuglielmo said no one has taken a two-year break from skating and pulled off such a feat.
“It makes me think if I was one of those athletes, I’d be like, ‘Why did I just skate for the last year? I could have taken a vacation for two years. But that’s Alysa. She’s different,” DiGuglielmo said.
Liu pointed out that she left her sport while still in puberty. At 20, she’s physically and mentally stronger. And, she’s competing on her own terms, taking an active role in choreography, competition and training.
“I have a perspective not many of the athletes in the sport have,” Liu said. “So many people, their goal is the Olympics, and when they get there, and it’s over, they don’t know what to do. I’m really just doing this for fun.”
