Alysa Liu Headlines women's single skating olympics: Skating Her Way into Free Skate in Third
At 20, Alysa Liu has rebuilt her career on her terms and now finds herself in medal contention at the Winter Games. Liu enters the women's free skate in third place overall and will take the ice third-to-last at 4: 32 p. m. ET, a résumé that reflects both a return from a two-year absence and a deliberate shift in control over how she competes and lives her sport.
Comback framed by choice and joy on the ice
Liu’s route back to the Olympics is not a simple comeback story of training and technique; it is the product of a conscious decision to reclaim control. She stepped away from competitive skating at 16, spent two years away, and returned only after insisting she would run her own career — telling family she wanted to skate again but without outside management of her daily life and decisions. The change was wrenching at times: her father, who had overseen her development from age 5, said it hurt when Liu announced he would no longer be part of her team.
On the competition ice at the Milano Cortina Games, that new ownership is visible. During group warm-ups for the short program she moved through the session almost as if she were at a celebration — joking with teammates, waving to friends, applauding other skaters and pointing to family members in the stands as she flew by. The demeanor stands in stark contrast to the laser-focus visible in many competitors, and it has become part of her public narrative: the reigning world champion who says she is directing her own “movie” and that a medal would be a bonus, not the sole end.
Podium pulse: standings, schedule and teammates’ swings of fortune
After the short program, Liu sits behind two Japanese skaters, Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto, with a clear shot at the podium as the long program unfolds. She is scheduled to skate third-to-last in the free skate at 4: 32 p. m. ET, a late slot that often amplifies the stakes and audience attention. The overall free-skate session began earlier in the day, starting at 1: 00 p. m. ET.
The American team experienced a day of mixed results. A clean, composed short program left Isabeau Levito in eighth place, while Amber Glenn struggled in the same segment and landed in 13th. Glenn is slated to skate at 2: 42 p. m. ET in the long program. Those placements set up contrasting goals: Levito will aim to climb toward the top ten or better, while Glenn will try to salvage placement and confidence in the final free skate.
What’s at stake and what Liu has said she wants
For Liu, the stakes are both tangible and philosophical. On the scoreboard, she is within range of Olympic hardware — a result that would break a long medal drought for American women in individual figure skating. Off the scoreboard, she has articulated a different priority: presence, authenticity and the ability to shape her career. She has reminded observers that her return was contingent on autonomy, leaving behind years of intense external oversight, a history that included early technical milestones like landing a triple axel at age 12 and becoming the youngest U. S. national champion at 13.
Whatever unfolds in the free skate, the Games represent a milestone in a larger arc. Liu’s combination of technical firepower, visible joy in competition, and the conscious choice to run her own program has made her both a medal threat and an emblem of a skater rewriting the rules of her own career. On Thursday at 4: 32 p. m. ET, she will try to translate that agency into a long program that could change the final standings and the shape of her Olympic story.
