On Friday night, Alysa Liu won the women’s figure skating world championships in Boston. She is the first U.S. woman to claim the world championship title in 19 years.
In 2022, after years of being labeled a young skating phenom, Liu decided to step away from the rink, wanting to find a life outside of skating. She came out of retirement a year ago.
Last night, the 19-year-old skated to “MacArthur Park” by Donna Summer. She landed all of her jumps cleanly and finished her performance with a look of disbelief.
She received a standing ovation from the crowd. The NBC broadcast panned to a shot of her father, Arthur Liu, cheering her on.
“It means so much to me,” she said afterwards, per CNN. “Everything that I’ve been through, my last skating experience, my time away and this time around I’m so happy, I’m mostly glad I could put out two of my best performances.”
In a live interview with NBC, Liu said she couldn’t believe she had won the world championships a year into her comeback. She told reporters she knows she can be an even better skater.
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