alysa liu

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu made quite an impression at the Milan-Cortina Olympics with her unique style, her compelling backstory and, of course, her gold medals in the women’s singles competition — the first for an American woman since 2002 — and in the team event.

Her feats captured the attention of local artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. He wanted to be sure to capture all of it in his new mural paying tribute to the 20-year-old athlete in Gardena.

“Obviously her winning gold was the main factor” in his choosing to paint Liu, Zermeño said.

But once the Mexican-American artist learned more about the Chinese-American skater, he found inspiration in other aspects of her life as well. That includes the Oakland native’s two-year retirement from the sport starting at age 16, her enrollment at UCLA and her decision to express herself in her own way.

“She’s first-generation American, just like myself,” Zermeño said. “So I feel like that tie, her going to UCLA, her stopping skating for awhile and then jumping back in and more being herself — you know, growing up in Venice, I feel like that’s what kind of made me an artist. Venice allowed me to be myself, be wacky on the boardwalk, artists, performers, stuff like that.

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu poses with the gold medal she won in the women’s singles Feb. 19 at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

(Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

“So I feel like there were a lot of connections beyond her just winning the gold medal. But ultimately, I think she just deserves her flowers, man. She accomplished something, and I feel like her personality is what’s really garnering all this support from people.”

Zermeño was driving to get dinner near his home earlier this week and noticed a wall he thought would be perfect for his Liu-inspired project outside the Coe’s Glass & Mirror building at 15532 Crenshaw Blvd. It turned out that Zermeño casually knew the business owner, although Alex Lopez said he never realized his former next-door neighbor was a mural artist.

Still, Lopez approved the project immediately upon seeing samples of Zermeño’s work and a digitally created version of his idea for the Liu painting.

“I mean, I probably should have gone up the chain of command and asked the landlord’s permission, but I knew it was going to come out amazing,” Lopez said. “I just said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ The landlord came by this morning and loved the piece. He was really glad that we did it.”

Artist Gustavo Zermeno Jr. said he was inspired to paint a mural dedicated to U.S. skater Alysa Liu for reasons ‘beyond her just winning the gold medal.’

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Zermeño started painting Tuesday and hopes to be finished early next week. The mural will feature three images of Liu, including two of her skating, but the centerpiece is a larger-than-life headshot of her from the women’s singles medal ceremony.

In it, the halo-haired athlete smiles broadly as she pretends to take a bite out of her gold medal, putting on full display her now-famous “smiley” piercing in the tissue connecting her upper lip to her gums.

‘I think it really represents her personality and where she’s from, the Bay Area,’ artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. said of his mural dedicated to U.S. skater and Oakland native Alysa Liu.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

“I like that it’s a little rough around the edges, but beautiful at the same time,” Zermeño said of the portrait. “I think it really represents her personality and where she’s from, the Bay Area. And so I feel like it just looks, you know, a little hood but at the same time, her being a figure skater, has that softness to it. And that’s kind of what I wanted.”

Lopez added: “I love it. Just her in general, as a person, I think she’s great. What she was able to accomplish in the Olympics is amazing for the United States and just for California. I’m honored to have her mural here. I feel like it represents the community and our business really well.”

MILAN — She’s the only U.S. skater still in medal contention. Alysa Liu is the last person to care.

The unbothered 20-year-old is the only American who finished in the top six of the women’s short program Tuesday and is holding the weight of an Olympic medal drought that’s as old as she is. But after placing third in the short program, she said she hadn’t even looked at the standings. She is angling more for an invitation to the post-competition gala than a medal.

“A medal?” Liu asked with a sarcastic scoff and giggle. “I don’t need a medal. I just need to be here, and I just need to be present. And I need people to see what I do next.”

Next will be the women’s free skate Thursday, where Liu will try to be the first U.S. woman to stand on an Olympic podium for singles figure skating since Sasha Cohen in 2006.

The United States entered the Milan-Cortina Games with three strong contenders to end the drought, but will need comeback performances from the other two “Blade Angels.”

Alysa Liu is the top hope for the U.S. in women’s singles figure skating after finishing third in the short program.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Isabeau Levito skated cleanly in her Olympic debut but finished the short program in eighth with 70.84 points, almost eight points back from leader Ami Nakai’s 78.71.

Amber Glenn appeared poised to join Liu in medal contention after she started her “Like a Prayer” program with a steady triple axel. Looking inspired from a good luck message from Madonna this week, Glenn executed a strong triple-triple combination with her second jumping pass. The crowd at Milano Ice Skating arena roared.

Then Glenn popped her last planned triple jump. She earned zero points on the element. Her face fell immediately.

Glenn went through the motions of her step sequence but she looked lifeless, and after her program, she clutched the necklaces on her burgundy lace dress and knelt at center ice. She broke down in tears when she hugged her coach.

“I had it,” Glenn said through sobs.

With 67.39 points in 13th place, the three-time national champion is well outside the medal race led by Nakai and three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto, who is in second with 77.23 points. Levito, skating in her mother’s hometown and paying homage to iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren with her short program, is less than six points out of podium position behind Liu’s 76.59 points.

Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart, wearing bedazzled headphones in a booth at the top of the arena, were shown on the video screen after Glenn’s skate clapping for her performance. U.S. teammate Ilia Malinin cheered behind them.

Malinin could empathize as Glenn held back tears on the ice. The United States won the team figure skating competition with a dramatic one-point victory but hasn’t secured any of the individual gold medals that appeared likely. Malinin, whose free skate collapse was one of the most stunning moments of the Milan-Cortina Games, cited the intense Olympic pressure.

Isabeau Levito competes during the women’s short program Tuesday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

After a shaky performance in the team competition, Glenn tried to escape the spotlight by training with U.S. teammates at a facility in Bergamo, 50 minutes outside of Milan. She tried to commit to rest and recovery and shy away from social media. She said after training Monday that she felt physically strong and had refocused enough to make the competition feel like any other world championship.

Knowing how hard it was for Glenn to get one jump away from putting herself into medal contention made the sight of her mistake all the more painful for Liu.

“She works so freaking hard,” Liu said after seeing Glenn’s skate on TV screens in the interview area. “Genuinely, such a hard worker, and she’s overcome a lot, and I just want her to be happy.”

Liu received some of the loudest applause of the night. Before beginning her program, she skated by the boards and high-fived both of her coaches, who hugged and hopped for joy when Liu executed her tricky triple lutz-triple loop combination jump. After hitting her ending pose, Liu covered her face to hide the tears that often well up in her eyes after her program set to “Promise.”

The reigning world champion returned to her second Olympics seemingly oblivious to any sort of pressure after a two-year retirement changed her perspective on skating. In Beijing, she was a 16-year-old who skated as she was told. She executed the jumps, performed to the music and wore the costumes that she was given.

But she laid the road to Milan all by herself and on her own terms.

One strong free skate away from her first individual Olympic medal — and second overall after helping the United States to team gold last week — Liu can’t be bothered to fret about how she’ll prepare for her last Olympic competition. Instead, she said she wants fans to see her new gala program.

A new dress just arrived and the choreography is almost done. All she needs is an invitation.

MILAN — Alysa Liu glided past her boards and held her hand out. She high-fived her coaches with a wide smile on her face.

She was ready.

Liu calmly skated through minor technical missteps on two jumps in her short program of the team competition at Milano Ice Skating Arena to finish second and earn nine points for the United States that leads the team competition after the first day.

Led by 10 points from rhythm dance leaders Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the United States has 25 points entering Saturday’s men’s short program to lead over second-place Japan (23 points) and third-place Italy (22). Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto finished first with a score of 78.88 ahead of Liu’s 74.90.

After the men’s short program, the top five teams advance to the long program portion. The United States selected two-time world champion Ilia Malinin to skate in the men’s short program.

Liu, competing in her second Olympics, was selected for the team competition for the first time. The reigning world champion worked through slight errors, including on her tricky triple lutz, triple loop combination. Her coach Phillip Diguglielmo grabbed the arm of choreographer Massimo Scali nervously as Liu floated through the air on the crooked loop. When she finished her program to a loud ovation, Diguglielmo wiped his brow in relief.

Liu was the second world champion competing for the United States on Friday. Chock and Bates edged out French pair Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron by less than two points in an early showdown of individual gold medal contenders.

In March 2025, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron rocked the ice dance world by announcing their partnership. He was the reigning Olympic champion. She was a former Canadian champion. But it wasn’t just that the pair became instant gold medal contenders 11 months before the Olympic Games. The reason for the sudden pairing caused a stir.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. finished first in the ice dance portion of the team competition Friday.

(Stephanie Scarbrough / Associated Press)

In October 2024, Fournier Beaudry’s partner Nikolaj Sorensen was suspended by Skate Canada for at least six years for alleged sexual assault. The pair competed for both Denmark and Canada over their decade-long partnership, winning three Danish championships and a Canadian national title and placing ninth in the 2022 Olympics.

Cizeron hadn’t skated since 2022. He and his ice dance partner of 20 years Gabriella Papadakis announced their retirement in December 2024, but wanted to return to competition. He had trained in Canada for more than a decade and maintained a friendship with Fournier Beaudry. The opportunity was open, but it would be complicated.

After pairing with Fournier Beaudry to launch Cizeron’s comeback, the new team expressed support for Sorensen in an interview with Canadian French-language newspaper La Presse. Fournier Beaudry continues her romantic relationship with Sorensen.

When asked of the allegations Friday, Fournier Beaudry said she did not have anything to add to her previous comments. The pair proceeded through the mixed zone.

Since teaming up, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron have won five of six competitions, a nearly inconceivable rise for such a new pair. The only blemish is a silver medal finish at the Grand Prix Final.

Chock and Bates’ 15-year partnership has yielded three world championships, a record seven U.S. titles and four trips to the Olympics. On one of the most talented teams the United States has ever sent to an Olympic Games, Chock and Bates still stand out for their experience. Of the 14 other U.S. figure skaters, only Liu has participated in the Games before.

“I think we have the best generation of figure skaters within the U.S. right now,” said pairs skater Danny O’Shea, who finished fifth with his partner Ellie Kam to earn six position points toward the team total. “Amazing people helping each other, supporting each other, and Madi and Evan leading the charge being the just experienced elders.”

O’Shea, making his Olympic debut at 34, laughed as he clarified Chock, 33, is younger than him.

MILAN — Alysa Liu wore a hollow smile on the ice. She had achieved a dream, skating at the Beijing Olympics at just 16, but in a mostly empty arena, few were there to see the moment.

Perhaps that was what Liu secretly wanted.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to be seen,” Liu said. “It’s just I had nothing to show.”

The 20-year-old now proudly presents Alysa Liu 2.0.

Four years after shocking the sport by retiring as a teenage phenom, the Oakland native could win two gold medals at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. She is a title contender in her individual event that begins Jan. 17 as the United States tries to end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women’s singles figure skating, and she will skate Friday in the women’s short program of a team competition the United States is favored to win.

Armed with a new perspective from her two-year retirement, Liu now smiles genuinely on and off the ice, no matter if there’s a medal around her neck or not.

“I have so much I want to express and show, whether that’s through skating or just through my presence,” said Liu, who placed sixth in Beijing. “It’s exciting to think about that being seen.”

When she made her Olympic debut, Liu didn’t feel like her career belonged to her. Her father, Arthur, was a driving force in her skating career. In a sport where coaches and choreographers often call the shots for young athletes, Liu entered the Olympic stage with programs she didn’t like and clothes she didn’t pick. She was behind a mask and couldn’t express herself. She barely knew how to.

Skating had consumed her entire life. She felt “trapped and stuck” in the sport. So she left.

After retiring following the 2022 world championships — where she won a bronze medal — Liu got her driver’s license. She hiked to Mount Everest base camp with friends. She went shopping for not-skating clothes, played Fortnite until 4 a.m. with her siblings and enrolled at UCLA. She loved studying psychology.

“I found what I like and what I didn’t like,” said Liu, who took time off from UCLA to prepare for the Olympics but hopes to return before her friends graduate. “Really got to know myself, because [when] I had skating, I didn’t really know myself. I couldn’t know myself. I only ever did one thing.”

Alysa Liu practices in Milan on Thursday ahead of the Olympic team competition, which starts Friday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

After a casual ski trip reminded her of the joys of skating, Liu made the decision to return to the sport that shaped, and nearly stole, her childhood. But she would only do it on her terms.

The choreography, the music and the costumes would all be her choice. She doesn’t compete to win. She skates to show her art, she said.

In the process, she’s winning more than ever.

She won the world championship in 2025, becoming the first U.S. woman to win the world title since 2006. She won the Grand Prix final in Japan in December, the last major international competition before the Milan-Cortina Games to announce herself as a potential Olympic champion.

The day before her last performance at the U.S. championships, the final competition that would decide her Olympic bid, Liu ran to a St. Louis salon to dye her hair to match a new skating dress. Unbothered by the pressure of the moment, she debuted a Lady Gaga free skate that brought fans to their feet and earned her a silver medal.

“When you are an Olympic athlete that has a chance in front of the world every four years, it literally is your life’s work that’s on the line,” NBC analyst and two-time Olympian Johnny Weir said. “And she has found a way to compartmentalize that and put it down. … I just think it’s so wonderfully healthy and brave and strong to be doing what she is, because it takes a lot of bravery to put down the pressure that the sport naturally has.”

Liu is just a natural talent in the sport, 2022 Olympian Mariah Bell said. Bell remembered during the Stars on Ice tour in 2022 when the skaters rolled into a new city, tired, groggy and sore from the long bus ride, Liu, dressed in a baggy hoodie and billowing sweatpants, could go on the ice and throw perfect jumps without warning. Bell stood in awe.

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu practices on Thursday in Milan.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

After Liu’s short program at the U.S. championships last month set a national championship record, Bell was blown away for different reasons.

“She’s so sophisticated and mature and emotional,” Bell said. “When she was younger, she was incredible. But when you’re 13, you don’t skate the way that you do like how she did the short program [at the U.S. championships].”

Skating to Laufey’s “Promise,” a haunting piano ballad, Liu glided through a flawless short program that she said nearly moved her to tears. Fans showered her with stuffed animals.

Liu has always commanded attention in the sport. She was the youngest skater to perform a triple axel in international competition at 12, became the youngest U.S. champion at 13 and followed with another national title at 14. She was the first U.S. woman to complete a quad lutz in competition, doing so in the 2019 Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Six years later, back in that same arena for Skate America in 2025, Liu told her coaches she didn’t remember her historic accomplishment.

“It feels like I’m watching or I got someone else’s memories,” said Liu, who had similar, disconnected, but overall positive memories of her Olympic experience in Beijing. “It feels like a totally different person, but we are definitely the same person.”

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu practices in Milan on Thursday as she prepares for the team competition, which starts Friday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Exchange the delicate, ballerina-like skating dresses with bold, modern asymmetrical designs. Undo the tight, slicked back bun and bring in halo dyed hair, dark eyeliner and the piercing she did herself on the inside of her upper lip. With three horizontal stripes dyed into her hair, each layer represents a year of the new life Liu is finally happy to put on display.

“I want to be seen more because I like what I have going on,” Liu said. “I like what I’m doing.”