BOSTON—Alysa Liu skated around the ice in disbelief, her golden dress shimmering in the lights of TD Garden, and the appreciative roar from a sellout crowd reminded her why she had returned to the sport following a nearly two-year retirement.
When her score was finally read, the 19-year-old from Clovis, California, had made history.
“I mean, it means so much to me and everything I’ve been through,” Liu said. “My last skating experience, my time away and this time around—I’m so happy, I guess. I’m mostly glad I could put out two of my best performances.”
Liu’s coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, pulled her into a hug in the kiss-and-cry area of the arena. Moments later, Sakamoto came over from where she had watched in the leader’s chair and squeezed her tightly, as if Japan’s hero was passing Liu the torch as the first world champion from the United States since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium in 2006.
“What the hell?” Liu asked in disbelief. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to process this.”
Sakamoto finished with 217.98 points to add a silver medal to her three previous golds. Her Japanese teammate, Mone Chiba, was third with 215.24 points while Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn gave the Americans three of the top five.
“We are all so strong,” Levito said, “and we are all such fighters, and we all have our strengths, and are so different but we’re all so sweet with each other. I’m just so glad these are my fellow Team USA skaters.”
Liu was once considered the sport’s rising star, the youngest-ever U.S. champ when she triumphed at the age of 13 in 2019, and then defended her title the following year. She fulfilled a childhood ambition by qualifying for the Olympics, finishing sixth at the 2022 Beijing Games, and earned a bronze medal at the world championships that year.
Then she stepped away. Liu decided that skating had become less of joy and more of a job, and she wanted to focus on being a normal college student. It wasn’t until she went on a ski trip and felt the rush of competition—albeit in a much different way, and with far lower stakes—that she began to think about a comeback.
Early last year, she made it official with a cryptic posting on social media. And while the path back in a notoriously fickle sport was bumpy, to be sure, Liu took a big step forward with her second-place finish to Glenn at the U.S. championships.
She took the last step up on the podium Friday night.
“Not every yesterday, I didn’t expect this. I didn’t have expectations coming in,” Liu said. “I never have expectations coming into competitions anymore. It’s more-so, ‘What can I put out performance-wise?’ I really met my expectations on my part.”
She left Sakamoto, the erstwhile champion, with feelings of awe and admiration.
“She went away and now she’s back, and the world champion,” Sakamoto said. “I wouldn’t say she’s changed. Her cheerfulness and kindness and the way she’s always happy brought her to the [top] step of the podium.”
