Alysa Liu ended a long US drought in women's Olympic figure skating on Thursday, winning gold at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan. The 20-year-old climbed from third place after the short program to the top of the podium with a strong free skate that produced a season-best 150.20 points and a total of 226.79. Liu, skating with visible ease and a wide grin, USA Today reports, delivered a high-energy program—to Donna Summer's cover of "MacArthur Park"—that brought a loud response from the crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena. "I literally can't process this," Liu said afterward.
Japan claimed the other two spots on the podium. Kaori Sakamoto took silver in what she has said is her last Olympics, while Ami Nakai earned bronze. Fellow American Amber Glenn, who had struggled in the short program and entered the day in 13th place, rebounded to fifth with a strong free skate that began with a clean triple Axel. Glenn posted a season-best 147.52 in the free skate for a total of 214.91 points, then marked the finish with her customary center-ice fist bump. "She killed it," Liu said of Glenn's performance.
Liu's victory was no fluke, the Athletic points out. She's won two US Championships. Liu became the youngest woman to land a triple axel in international competition and the first to combine a quadruple jump with a triple axel. She won a spot on the Olympic team before her junior prom. And she became the first American woman to win a gold in figure skating since Sarah Hughes did it in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Liu seemed "the least nervous of any person" in the arena, Marcus Thompson II writes in the Athletic—"Her infectious energy turned all the way up, her meticulous edges on point."
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