Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu is taking the season off following her triumph in Milan.This time, she is certain she will be back.The 21-year-old from the San Francisco Bay area made history in February when she became the first American woman since Sarah Hughes in 2002 to stand atop the podium at the Winter Games. Liu also became the first women’s skater to win two golds in the same Olympics when she was part of the U.S. squad that successfully defended its team gold medal.It was a remarkable comeback for Liu, a one-time teen phenom who abruptly walked away from figure skating after the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Liu had become burned out by the grind of the sport and had no designs on ever returning to the ice.Yet she returned in 2024 with a fresh, almost effervescent outlook on the sport, and it carried her all the way to the Olympic title.
“While people are announcing programs, imma take this time to announce that I will not be competing this season,” Liu wrote in an Instagram late Tuesday. “I always want to challenge myself in new ways, so my artistry & skating can evolve. It’s important to me that my sport reflects my personal growth. I’m gonna take the time to recalibrate, fine-tune things & whatnot. “So fear not, I’ll be back, & in the meantime I’ll be rooting for my teammates near & far.”
