From Albany to Olympic gold: Alysa Liu's 2026 triumph traces back to historic quad at Aurora Games
· Yahoo Sports
MILAN – Alysa Liu delivered the United States its first women's figure skating gold medal in 24 years on Thursday at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Liu's near-flawless Olympic free skate left a packed crowd inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena standing and cheering as her final pose hit and the magnitude of the moment settled in.
Visit milkshakeslot.lat for more information.
It was a gold-medal performance for the ages and the final chapter of a revolution that began in Albany, when a then-14-year-old Liu became the first U.S. woman in competition to land a quad lutz at the 2019 Aurora Games at the then-Times Union Center, now known as MVP Arena, in Albany.
"Up until this season, quads had been strictly something that men competed (in)," U.S. Olympian Ashley Wagner had said after Liu's 2019 performance. "It wasn't because of the rules, but technically for a female athlete to rotate four times, it's difficult to get that speed and power and the physics of it. "It's difficult to manage. For her to go out there and rotate four times, land that clean quad lutz, it's a record-breaking. It's a big moment."
Seven years later, that big moment became the foundation for something bigger.
The 20-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area, who walked away from the sport before finding her way back again, finished with 226.79 points to upstage Japanese skaters Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai, who took silver and bronze in Milan.
"I think my story is more important than anything to me," Liu said on Thursday, "and that's what I will hold dear, and this journey has been incredible and my life has just been – I have no complaints."
The victory ended a drought that stretched back to 2002, when Sarah Hughes stood atop the podium in Salt Lake City. It also marked Liu's second gold of the Milan Cortina Games after she and teammate Amber Glenn helped the Americans capture team gold earlier in the week.
Liu's arc has rarely followed a straight line. She was the youngest U.S. champion ever when she won the first of back-to-back national titles at 13. After finishing sixth at the Beijing Games, she was so burned out that she abruptly retired.
For two years, she chose a different kind of climb. She trekked to Mount Everest's base camp and enrolled at UCLA, where she is studying psychology.
On Thursday night in Milan, she reached a different summit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally published at From Albany to Olympic gold: Alysa Liu's 2026 triumph traces back to historic quad at Aurora Games.