Why did Alysa Liu retire? Explaining USA figure skater's gap after 2022 Olympics debut at age 16

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Why did Alysa Liu retire? Explaining USA figure skater's gap after 2022 Olympics debut at age 16 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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• Why did Alysa Liu retire?
• Alysa Liu's first Olympics
• When did Alysa Liu return to figure skating?
• Alysa Liu career timeline

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One of the favorites in United States figure skating to win a medal at the 2026 Olympics is American Alysa Liu. She is expected to be a heavy medal favorite and could even skate well enough to win gold.

But Liu has made quite the journey to get to the 2026 Winter Olympics. Liu was a five-time medalist from 2019-2022, before retiring from figure skating shortly after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Since her return in 2024, she has already won five medals.

Let's take a look back at her retirement decision and her triumphant return to the sport.

MORE 2026 OLYMPICS: Live medal tracker | Viewer's guide | Day-by-day schedule

Why did Alysa Liu retire?​

Liu retired in April 2022, just a couple months after participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics. In a since-deleted Instagram post, Liu announced her retirement from skating, citing her 11 years skating on the ice. Liu started skating as a junior at just 10 years old.

She told The San Francisco Chronicle that age 16, she wanted to do things other than skating:

She has been skating since she was 5 and wants her own life. She wants to hang out with her four younger siblings, live at her house in Richmond, apply to college, spend time with friends, get her driver’s license, play the piano, cuddle with her cat Xiao Bao.

All things she couldn’t do while she pursued an Olympic-level skating career.

“I have no regrets,” she said. “I’m sure it would be the opposite, if I stayed in skating. I’d have regrets.”

Leading up to the Beijing Olympics, she had limited time on the ice due to COVID, and even had to train in public parks near her hometown of Oakland, California.


"She became really unhappy,” Arthur Liu told USA TODAY of Alysa's decision to step away from figure skating. "She avoided the ice rink at all costs. She's traumatized. She was just traumatized. She was suffering from PTSD and she wouldn't go near the ice rink.”

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How old is Alysa Liu?​

Liu is 20 years old. She was born in Clovis, California, but grew up primarily in Oakland. Her father brought her there to help train at the same place as the great U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan.

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Alysa Liu's first Olympics​

Alysa Liu has competed in just one other set of Winter Olympics, in Beijing in 2022. Her leadup and competing in the games themselves had several setbacks.

She tested positive for COVID during the Olympic trials, forcing her to withdraw. However, she petitioned to join the team, and ultimately made it alongside Mariah Bell and Karen Chen.

The games in Beijing had all sorts of COVID restrictions, as athletes themselves had to be isolated in an Olympic bubble and subject to extensive testing. Although Liu's family is from China, she did not have the opportunity to explore the city thanks to COVID restrictions still being in place.

Liu finished eighth overall in the short program, as the Russia Olympic Committee's Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova took gold and bronze. Japan's Kaori Sakamoto took the silver.

In March after the Olympics, the United States government announced that Liu and her father, Arthur Liu, were the subject of a spying operation by the Chinese government in Beijing during the Olympics. Liu's father left China in exile and moved to the United States in the 1990s due to the persecution of individuals in the 1989 Democracy Movement. Alysa had at least two people escorting her at all times during the games. Via The Guardian:

“They are probably just trying to intimidate us, to ... in a way threaten us not to say anything, to cause trouble to them and say anything political or related to human rights violations in China,” Arthur Liu said. “I had concerns about her safety. The US government did a good job protecting her.”

Arthur Liu said a man called him in November claiming to be an official with the USOPC, and asked for his and his daughters’ passport numbers. He refused to provide the details and said he would call his contact at Team USA the next day.

“I didn’t feel good about it. I felt something fishy was going on,” Arthur Liu said. “From my dealings with the US Figure Skating association, they would never call me on the phone to get copies of our passports. I really cut it short once I realized what he was asking for.”

MORE: Meet the USA Olympic figure skating roster for 2026

When did Alysa Liu return to figure skating?​

Liu returned to figure skating in early 2024. She told Cosmopolitan her decision was partially due to her missing the sport, and not feeling challenged enough with school:

"I went through a whole year of school, and during winter break, I went skiing and I realized school was hard, but it was not challenging enough for me," Liu said. "I got into other things, like fashion, but I never went to the gym. Skating gave me something to be strong for. I love having willpower. I used to never care about programs, what you skated to, your dresses, stuff like that. Now, I love skating dresses and helping with the design process. This sport is kind of an outlet for me. I love dance and music, so it’s everything in one."

Since her return, she has racked up some big wins. She won gold medals in 2025 at the World Team Trophy in Tokyo, the 2025 World Championships in Boston and two silvers at the U.S. Championships in 2025 and 2026. She took the gold in Milan during the U.S.'s win in the team event.


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Alysa Liu career timeline​

Alyssa Liu looked to be one of the up-and-coming names in figure skating. At the age of just 10 years old, she won an intermediate gold medal at the 2016 U.S. Championships.

She won three medals as a junior and competed as a senior, beginning with the 2018-19 season. In 2019, she won gold at the U.S. Championships in Detroit, then defended her title in 2020 in Greensboro. She won silver in the 2019-20 Junior Grand Prix Final, and won bronze at the 2020 World Junior Championships.

In 2022, she won bronze at the World Championships in Montpellier after her first Olympic games. She retired from skating shortly thereafter.

In March 2024, roughly two years after she retired, she announced her return to competitive figure skating.

Alysa Liu medals won​

Year	Event	Category	Medal Won
2026	Winter Olympics	Team	Gold
2026	U.S. Championships	Singles	Silver
2025	World Team	Team	Gold
2025	World Championships	Singles	Gold
2025	U.S. Championships	Singles	Silver
2025-26	Grand Prix Finals	Singles	Gold
2022	World Championships	Singles	Bronze
2020	U.S Championships	Singles	Gold
2020	World Junior Championships	Singles	Bronze
2019	U.S. Championships	Singles	Gold
2019-20	Junior Grand Prix	Singles	Silver

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