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The 2026 Winter Games in Milano Cortina formally began on February 6, 2026, and Team USA’s Alysa Liu got the competition off to a great beginning. Since the age of 16, Alysa has wowed the world of skating, securing triumphs in various events and etching her name in history with her challenging leaps along the way. Discover additional information about the phenom right here!
Alysa Started Skating When She Was 5 Years Old
Born on August 8, 2005, in Clovis, California, Alysa took up figure skating through the support of her father at just five years old. Soon thereafter, her father located a trainer for Alysa in former competitive figure skater, Laura Lipensky. With Laura’s support, Alysa made history as the youngest skater and just the third American woman to successfully execute a triple axel in a global event at the age of 12!
She Already Has A Large Number Of Medals
Alysa’s journey has already been blessed with a U.S. National Championship in both 2019 and 2020, making her the youngest ever to secure a win at 13 years old. She also emerged as the youngest individual to claim two senior national titles at only 14 years old. As a U.S. junior champion, she was victorious three years consecutively. She secured fourth place in the 2021 U.S. Championships.
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Alysa Was the First Female Skater from America to Execute a Quadruple Jump in Competition
During her initial junior international event in August 2019, Alysa made history as the first American junior female skater to execute a quadruple jump in a competition and was the first female ever to successfully complete both a triple axel and a quadruple jump in the same routine. All of this occurred before the youthful star had even reached the age of 14!
She Needed to Pull Out From the U.S. Championships Due to Covid
Even though she was compelled to withdraw from the U.S. Figure Skating Championship because of a positive Covid test, Alysa’s prior displays, including a hard-earned third position following the short program, secured her one of the three positions on the U.S. Winter Olympic squad. Concerning how she coped in isolation while the remainder of the skaters were competing, Alysa told USA Today, “I watched some Netflix. That’s it. That’s all I’ve been doing. And I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow or anything. I haven’t had time to talk to my team yet.”
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Alysa Has Been Referred to as the “Simone Biles Of Figure Skating”
Alysa has already been earning some incredible comparisons to other renowned sports figures, including the GOAT gymnast Simone Biles! Olympic bronze medalist and sports analyst Adam Rippon connected the two exceptional athletes back in 2020 in an interview. “Alysa executes things so effortlessly, but if you’re an average viewer, you almost don’t appreciate how difficult and groundbreaking the program that she’s putting out is,” he remarked, while speaking with Business Insider.
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