Figure skater Alysa Liu makes improbable comeback with new rules, new style and a new approach
Figure skater Alysa Liu shocked the skating world last year, when she took home the World Championship just a few years after announcing her retirement from the sport at the age of 16.
As she heads into the Winter Olympics next month, where she is a favorite to win gold, the 20-year-old Liu has a new look and a new approach. Liu, no longer a young prodigy taking orders from the adults around her, is making this comeback on her own terms.
"I get to pick my own program music. I get to help with the creative process of the program," she said. "If I feel like I'm skating too much, I'll back down. If I feel like I'm not skating enough, I'll ramp it up. No one's gonna starve me or tell me what I can and can't eat."
Making waves from a young age
Liu started skating as a child. Her father, Arthur Liu, was a single dad to five kids, all born with the help of surrogates. He built a law practice in the U.S. after fleeing China, where he'd organized demonstrations during the time of the Tiananmen Square protests. His eldest daughter's figure skating career was almost like a second full-time job for him.
"I took her everywhere. I took her to Japan to learn from the top coaches there. I took her to Canada," he said.
He estimates he spent half a million to $1 million to help his daughter become the figure skater she is today.
"I just saw the talent," he said.
Others saw the talent, too. Liu, then 4-foot-7, won the 2019 U.S. Championships at 13. She won another national title at 14 and was hailed as the great American hope in figure skating.
"I skated every day when I was, like, 13, 14," Liu said. "It was a very abnormal childhood."
With so much at stake, her father closely monitored her training. Some coaches tried to keep Arthur away from the rink, but one day he sneaked into the ice center in disguise.
"Big jacket, sunglasses, head covered. Entered the ice rink from the back, not from the front. So I was sitting there, up in the bleachers, watching. And I didn't like what I saw," Arthur Liu said.
He began cycling and recycling through coaches and choreographers. Both Massimo Scali and Phillip DiGuglielmo, Liu's current coaches, were previously fired by her father.
"Once in person, two via text, I think. Yeah. 'Your services are no longer needed,'" DiGuglielmo said.
Surprise retirement
Everything changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Liu said. Her rink in Oakland, California, closed, allowing the skater to catch a breath.
"I was like, 'Wow. This is what a break feels like.' And then I was like, 'I really like not skating,'" Liu said.
While most people were frustrated by closures during the pandemic, that wasn't the case for Liu.
"Honestly, I was hoping, like, the rinks wouldn't open," she said.
Liu reluctantly returned to the ice when the rinks did open. She made the 2022 U.S. Olympic team and finished sixth in Beijing.
But she'd had it with figure skating. She called it quits in an Instagram post.
"It was a crucial time in my life. I was 16 and college was coming up," Liu said. "I wanted to do so much."
She went to Nepal and trekked to Everest Base Camp. She went on road trips with friends. Skating was not on her mind.
"I was really just living it up. I would say it was my best life," Liu said.
Nearly two years after calling it quits, Liu secretly laced up her skates.
"I wasn't planning to return to competition at this point," she said. "I just wanted quick hits of dopamine, basically."
Making a comeback
When Liu decided she wanted more, she called DiGuglielmo, her former coach, and told him she wanted to skate again.
At first, he thought Liu was talking about doing college-level competitions. Then he realized she was pushing for more.
"And I said, 'Let me call you back.' I go and grab a bottle of red wine, and I open that bottle, and I pour myself a really big glass,'" DiGuglielmo said.
He thought it was a terrible idea and spent nearly three hours on the phone trying to talk Liu out of it.
"I said, you know, 'Other people have tried this, and it was hard because they're older.' She goes, 'I'm only 18,'" DiGuglielmo said.
Once DiGuglielmo was on board, he brought back Scali as choreographer. Liu told U.S. Figure Skating, then told her dad.
"He was really happy," she said. "He's a great father, you know? I just didn't want him to be as invested in it as he was before."
In June of 2024, Liu — a full 7 inches taller than she was when she first won the 2019 U.S. Championships — started training again full time at her home rink. She was out of shape and didn't consider herself a possible contender for the World Championships.
But her coaches saw the old magic reappear quickly, and even more beyond that.
"There was something different about the way she moved her body that was no longer a child," DiGuglielmo said.
DiGuglielmo and Scali also said Liu is a better skater now that she's in charge.
"For many years she was dropped off at the rink. She was told what to do," DiGuglielmo said. "Now she comes in, and it is all collaborative."
She doesn't need someone else pushing her; Liu is now determined all on her own, and loving the struggle.
"It makes me feel alive," she said.
As she prepares for the Olympics, Liu said she views herself as more of an artist than an athlete.
"I view competitions more as, like, a stage for performing," she said.
She'll soon be performing for a massive audience at the Olympics, with many hoping to see her take home a medal. No American woman has won an Olympic figure skating singles title in 24 years.
But Liu said she isn't feeling pressured.
"My goal honestly is just to hype people up, give them an experience, whether it's negative or positive," she said. "As long as people are feelin' some strong emotions and anticipation, I'm fine with that."