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Team USA women’s figure skater Alysa Liu won gold in the women’s free skating final on Thursday, ending a 20-year drought for Americans in that event and a 24-year drought for gold.
The last American woman to win a singles figure skating medal at the Olympics was Sasha Cohen at the 2006 Turin Games. And the last American woman to win a singles figure skating gold medal was Sarah Hughes, who accomplished the feat in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Winter Games.
She landed all her jumps and smiled throughout, bursting into demonstrative celebration after finishing. She shouted, “That’s what I’m talking about!” and “Holy shit!” while celebrating with his team.
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Alysa Liu of the United States competes in the women’s figure skating free program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stéphanie Scarbrough)
Liu finished with a total score of 226.79, a free skate score of 150.20 and a short program score of 76.59. It was her best score of the season in the free skate.
But she still had to see her Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai challenge her.
Sakamoto finished just behind Liu. Nakai appeared to be getting much closer, and there was noticeable tension in the crowd as the judges examined Nakai’s moves before delivering his final score. But once they announced that Nakai had failed, the crowd exploded in celebration for Liu.
Liu was the only American to qualify for a chance at the podium after Tuesday’s short program after teammates Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito fell short.
All the pressure was on Liu to win gold for the United States in an individual figure skating event after her teammates fell short.
Liu has become a favorite among American fans this year, playing a key role in helping her country win gold in the team event after her dramatic comeback. She has only just returned to the world stage after a brief retirement following her performance at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Before her participation in the 2022 Beijing Games, she and her father were the targets of a spy operation led by the Chinese government.
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Alysa Liu of the United States competes in the women’s figure skating free program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stéphanie Scarbrough)
Liu called the experience “a little weird and exciting.”
“You know what I mean? It’s so… incredible. You know what I mean, it’s crazy,” Liu previously told PK Press Club Digital during a panel discussion at the USOPC Media Summit in October.
“Imagine discovering that at such a young age. I mean, in a weird way, I was like, ‘Am I like on a prank show?’ Like, is this world real? Like, I must be a movie character. But I mean, it felt like it made sense to me, you know, based on everything my dad was doing back when he was an activist.”
She does not rule out her life and experience during an international espionage incident being adapted for a film.
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Alysa Liu of the United States arrives to compete during the women’s figure skating free program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stéphanie Scarbrough)
She nevertheless has certain preferences if her story is broadcast on the big screen.
“They have to make me look like a super cool hero or something. And I can’t be the kid who was spied on and didn’t do anything,” she said.
“But, honestly, I just want the focus to be on my dad’s story, because, like, his story is so cool and, like, also, like everything that happened purely because of what he did. So, I feel like we have to start at the roots.”
