Alysa Liu Gold Medals: American Star Wins Olympic Figure Skating Gold in Milan, Sparks Social Surge

Alysa Liu Gold Medals were secured on the Olympic ice in Milan after a showstopping free skate that vaulted the 20-year-old from third into first. The victory matters now because it ended a 24-year drought for an American woman at the Olympics and immediately transformed Liu into a global social-media phenomenon.

Alysa Liu Gold Medals and the Olympic free skate

Liu arrived at the free skate in third place following a couple of errors in the short program, including a triple lutz where she failed to fully rotate, and had been playing catch-up behind 17-year-old Ami Nakai and Japan's Kaori Sakamoto. Wearing a sparkly gold dress and skating to Donna Summer, she delivered a flawless free program that earned a free-skate score of 150. 20 and an overall total of 226. 79, narrowly moving her ahead of Sakamoto for the gold.

Podium: Kaori Sakamoto, Ami Nakai and IOC president Kirsty Coventry

Kaori Sakamoto took silver, leaving her career without an Olympic crown in its final performance, while Ami Nakai, 17, claimed bronze. The medals were presented by IOC president Kirsty Coventry on the podium in Milan, Italy, after the women's free skate on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026.

Field results: Chiba, Glenn, Petrosian and Malinin reaction

Japan's Mone Chiba finished fourth. Amber Glenn climbed from 13th after the short program to fifth following an excellent free skate, and Russian champion Adeliia Petrosian was sixth after suffering a fall. The result provided a much-needed boost for the United States: Liu's gold was the lone U. S. singles figure-skating gold at these Games after Ilia Malinin's collapse in the men's competition, and Malinin was among those in the crowd who gave Liu a standing ovation.

Comeback narrative: hiatus, U. S. nationals, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito

The title completed what has been described as a remarkable comeback. Liu had stepped away from the sport at 16 after missing out on a medal at Beijing 2022 and then returned to elite competition following nearly a two-year hiatus. At the U. S. national championships in January she at one point took over first place, drawing attention for multicolored, tree ring–inspired hair and a shiny frenulum piercing, but Amber Glenn won a dominant, third consecutive national title and Liu finished second. Liu watched Glenn's winning skate from ice-side, clapping and recruiting Isabeau Levito to join in a cheering embrace; she later was officially named to the U. S. Olympic team for Milan, which marks her second Olympic appearance.

Social impact: Instagram spike past Eileen Gu

The immediate effect of Liu's gold was a dramatic jump in social-media attention. One week after her Olympic victory, Liu's Instagram following reached 5. 3 million, up from fewer than 300, 000 before the Games. That surge moved her past freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who logged 3. 7 million followers. Gu herself increased from more than 2. 1 million followers before the Games but did not match Liu's spike, and Gu even commented "YESSSSSS" on Liu's celebratory post. The rise in followers underscores how a single Olympic performance can translate into measurable global reach almost overnight.

What makes this notable is that the medal win combined athletic redemption with a cultural moment: Liu is widely recognized for her distinctive style—often described as alt, with halo hair and a lip piercing—and for skating on her own artistic terms. She said after the event, "My family is out there, my friends are out there. I had to put on a show for them, " and added, "When I see other people smiling, because I see them in the audience, I have to smile, too. I have no poker face. "

Broader context: Eileen Gu, recruitment programs and athlete backgrounds

The Olympic spotlight also revived comparisons between Liu and Eileen Gu. Both athletes are children of immigrants from China; Arthur Liu raised Alysa and her siblings in Oakland, California, and Yan Gu raised Eileen in San Francisco. Gu won a gold and two silvers at these Games, bringing her Olympic total to six with three golds, making her the most decorated women's freeskier in her sport. The broader backdrop includes a Chinese government program that recruited foreign-born athletes to boost competitiveness, and Eileen Gu's switch in 2019: she first competed for the United States in a Freestyle Ski World Cup in January 2019 and, after requesting a change of nation with the International Ski Federation, represented China for the first time in June 2019.

The timing matters because Liu's victory not only ended a two-decade-plus U. S. dry spell on the Olympic women's podium but also arrived amid intense global attention on national allegiances and athlete branding. With a free-skate score of 150. 20, an overall 226. 79, and the subsequent social-media ascent to 5. 3 million followers, Alysa Liu's Olympic triumph combined competitive closure, personal comeback and commercial visibility in a single moment.