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Alyssa Liu is Team USA’s last hope for an individual gold medal in figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina.
Liu, the reigning world champion, was the only one of America’s female figure skating stars to put herself in contention for gold after Tuesday night’s short program.
Liu landed a triple Lutz-triple loop, the most difficult combination attempted by any woman, and sat just two points behind leader Ami Nakai and just behind her Japanese teammate Kaori Sakamoto in the rankings.
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Alysa Liu of the United States performs her routine during the Figure Skating Women’s Singles Short Program at the Milano Ice Skating Arena at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games on February 17, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
“I’m really happy with how I skated,” Liu said after the competition. “And my siblings, my best friends and a ton of my family are out there. And I saw them in the warm-up. I saw them during my program too, so I don’t know. It was a really cool moment because they never come to see something like this. I’m really happy that I did super well. I felt super grounded and I connected with my program on another level.”
American skater Amber Glenn finished 13th, just one spot short of advancing. Glenn was seen walking off the ice in tears.
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Alysa Liu poses for a photo after the 2026 Milan Olympic figure skating announcement show at the Enterprise Center on January 11, 2026. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
Isabeau Levito was griefed for underrotating her triple loop and was leveled for her step sequence, where she tends to rack up points in the competition. That left her in eighth place and a long shot to climb onto the podium on Thursday night.
Other U.S. skating stars have seen similarly disappointing individual results in Milan Cortina after the U.S. took team gold last week.
Alysa Liu of Team United States competes during the Women’s Single Skating – Short Program on day eleven of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 17, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Skating power pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates were left with silver in ice dance, thanks in part to some questionable scoring by a French judge. Meanwhile, two-time world champion and Olympic favorite Ilia Malinin shockingly crashed out of the men’s free skate after falling twice during the men’s final on Friday, finishing eighth.
Now all the pressure is on Liu to make sure Team USA doesn’t have to go home without an individual gold in figure skating.
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“I don’t think about anything like that,” Liu said when asked if she can beat the Japanese rivals. “Whether I beat them or not is not my goal. My goal is just to do my shows and share my story, and I don’t have to be above or below anyone to do that.”
