Stunning Transformation of Olympic Champion Alysa Liu in 30+ Photos

After a shock retirement at age 16 and a trek to Mount Everest, Alysa Liu just completed the ultimate comeback. How did the skating prodigy go from burnout to Olympic gold in Milan?

Alysa Liu has been rewriting the rulebook since she was a little girl at the Oakland Ice Center, where coaches quickly spotted something in her that could not be taught. By her early teens, she was landing jumps that most adults struggled to master.

Now 20, she is an Olympic champion, a college student, a world record holder, and — as she puts it herself — someone who has already been through "so many midlife crises."

2017: The Spark

Liu was born on August 8, 2005, in Richmond, California, the oldest of five siblings, all born through surrogate mothers and egg donors.

Her father, Arthur Liu, an attorney who emigrated from China, first brought her to the Oakland Ice Center, where coaches immediately noticed something different about the little girl on the ice.

By 2017, she was already competing in advanced novice events. Coaches noticed her speed, rotation, and focus.

2019: History at 13

At 13, Liu became the youngest U.S. women's national champion in history. She landed three triple Axels across her programs, a technical milestone rarely seen in women's skating.

She quickly became a household name.

The spotlight extended beyond the rink, from televised appearances to red carpet events.

2020: Pushing Technical Limits

At 14, she defended her national title and became the first U.S. woman to land a quadruple jump in competition. She was also credited as the first American woman to land a quadruple Lutz.

Her dominance came with an intense schedule. Looking back, she later revealed, "It was a very abnormal childhood."

2021: Building Toward the Olympics

In 2021, she claimed bronze at the World Junior Championships and continued defending her position at the top of U.S. skating.

2022: Beijing and a Surprise Goodbye

At the Beijing Olympics, Liu helped Team USA secure bronze in the team event and finished sixth in women's singles.

She then capped the season with a bronze medal at the World Championships in Montpellier, France. Then, weeks later, at 16 years old, she retired.

She was burnt out, feeling trapped by a life dictated by coaches, schedules, and expectations — told what to wear, what to eat, how to train.

In an interview with TIME, she said, "Quitting was definitely, and still to this day, one of my best decisions ever."

She added, "I've been through so many midlife crises, and I'm, like, 20." For nearly two years, she did not skate.

2023: Life After Skating

During her time away, Liu enrolled at UCLA to study psychology. She traveled to the Himalayas with her best friend and her best friend's mother, trekking all the way to Everest Base Camp in 2023.

For nearly two years, she didn't set foot on the ice. Then, without telling anyone, she started going back, just occasionally, for what she later described as "quick hits of dopamine."

Those private sessions slowly reignited something she thought she had left behind for good.

2024: The Comeback

A ski trip in 2024 sealed it. Liu called her former coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, and told them she was coming back.

Over a nearly two-hour virtual call, DiGuglielmo tried to talk her out of it, but she had an answer for every concern, including his worry that training would be harder at her age. She pointed out that she would be only 21 at the next Olympics.

She returned to full training in the summer of 2024, with a new mindset, taking ownership of her outfits, music, routines, training schedule, and diet.

Scali noticed immediately that her jumps had never really left her. "Her jumps were still there, and that was the most amazing part of her coming back for us, too, that her rotations were still a natural part of what she feels," he said.

2025: Proving Everyone Wrong

At her first competition back — a Challenger Series event — she placed first. She then finished sixth and fourth at her next Grand Prix events, and earned silver at her first U.S. Championships in four years.

In March 2025, she won her first world championship title in Boston, after only nine months back in training. The skating world, which had been skeptical of her return, could no longer look away.

Coach Massimo Scali told TIME, "She has a gift. One of her best qualities is how quickly she can rotate the jump. And now that she has the power to bring the jumps pretty high, her jumps are actually bigger and cleaner than when she was little."

2026: Double Gold, One Broken Medal

At the January 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which doubled as Olympic trials, she made one more bold call: debuting a brand-new long program at the competition itself, something most skaters would never risk with an Olympic spot on the line.

She earned silver with two clean programs and punched her ticket to Milan. By the time she arrived in Milan, even non-skating fans could recognize her.

She wore horizontal blonde and brown stripes in her hair, which she told TIME symbolize tree rings. She has added one blonde stripe each year since 2023.

On February 19, 2026, she delivered a career-best long program.

According to The Guardian, she became the first American woman in 24 years to win Olympic gold in figure skating. Skating to Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park Suite," she landed all seven triple jumps cleanly and finished with 226.79 points.

She also won gold in the team event. According to TalkSport, one of those medals broke during the celebration.

"I was just jumping up and down, as one does to celebrate, and it just dropped," she said. "It just literally fell off of the ribbon. It got very scratched up, pretty dented."

Olympic rules required her to return the damaged medal.

From 13-year-old history-maker to 16-year-old retiree to 20-year-old Olympic champion, Alysa Liu's transformation unfolded year by year — and photo by photo.