MILAN — Alisa Liu stepped onto the top step of the Olympic podium and threw her hands in the air.
The American figure skater won her first national title at age 13, took a break from competitive sport at age 16, returned at age 18, and became world champion at age 19. She became an Olympic gold medalist at age 20, becoming the first American woman to win an individual gold medal since Sarah Hughes in 2002.
“I literally can’t handle this,” she said immediately after winning.
He didn’t seem to feel bad either, as he took a victory lap around the Milan ice skating stadium with his gold medal around his neck and an American flag draped over his shoulder.
She posed for photos, biting on her gold medal and showing off her frenulum piercing with a smile. She just wowed the crowd with her electric free skate, which had the crowd jumping to its feet and propelled her from third to first place following a beautiful short program two days earlier.
She skated with pure joy and had a big smile on her face throughout the program. When she came off the ice, she said to the broadcast camera, “That’s what I (expletive) talk about!”
After a tough short program that put her in 13th place, Liu’s teammate Amber Glenn showed herself and everyone what she’s made of by putting on a great free skate of her own and finishing in 5th place. “She killed it,” Liu said of Glenn.
USA TODAY Sports will bring you all the latest news, reactions and highlights from the Milan Ice Skating Arena.
Alisa Liu absolutely won with her long program performance, scoring a season-best 150.20 points and a total of 226.79 points.
Two days after a painful short program, Amber Glenn took to the ice again here at the Milan Ice Skating Arena.
Glenn, a 26-year-old American competing in his first Olympics, said as he entered the night that it was a lifelong dream of his to regain the joy of skating and to truly enjoy and soak up the experience.
Glenn, who finished 13th after the short program, told NBC before his performance, “No matter what the weather is like today, I never expected to get here. That in itself is an accomplishment. I came here to be who I am and stand up for what I believe in.”
She did it in the free skate. She opened with a stunning triple axel performance that reached incredible heights, truly showing off her strength in the industry. This performance earned her a score of 10.40, 0.34 points higher than her short program triple axel. When she crossed the finish line, she gave her signature fist pump and the crowd cheered her on by showering stuffed animals on the ice. She scored 147.52 points and finished with a total of 214.91 points.
During the kiss-and-cry section, while waiting to score, she could be heard saying, “I’m in the Olympics. I didn’t fall. I didn’t fall in the Olympics.”
USA TODAY Sports’ Jordan Mendoza spoke to Amber Glenn and Alisa Liu about the strong friendship they’ve built. Here’s what they said:
Liu says of Glenn: “She’s a really big sister to me. The idea of us competing against each other is so weird to me. I really look at her as one of my friends and really one of my teammates. I don’t know, but it’s really fun to do things with her.”
Glenn said of Ryu: “It’s great to have people around me who are so positive about skating and about their career. On the flip side, I have a spare pair of tights in case she tears them up and I don’t have a spare. Or she doesn’t have tights and I prepare a schedule for her.”
Here are the standings for the women’s figure skating competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
- Alisa Liu (USA): Total score: 226.79, free skate score: 150.20, short program score: 76.59.
- Kaori Sakamoto (Japan): Total score: 224.90, free skate score: 147.67, short program score: 77.23.
- Ami Nakai (Japan): Total score: 219.16, free skate score: 140.45, short program score: 78.71.
- Chiba Momone (Japan): Total score: 217.88, free skate score: 143.88, short program score: 74.00.
- Amber Glenn (USA): Total score: 214.91, free skate score: 147.52, short program score: 67.39.
- Adelia Petrosyan (neutral athlete): Total score: 214.53, free skate score: 141.64, short program score: 72.89.
- Nina Petrokina (Estonia): Total score: 210.82, free skate score: 141.19, short program score: 69.63.
- Hain Lee (Korea): Total score: 210.56, free skate score: 140.49, short program score: 70.07.
- Anastasia Gubanova (Georgia): Total score: 209.99, free skate score: 138.22, short program score: 71.77.
- Sofia Samodelkina (Kazakhstan): Total score: 207.46, free skate score: 138.99, short program score: 68.47.
- Jia Shin (Korea): Total score: 206.68, free skate score: 141.02, short program score: 65.66.
- Ysabeau Levit (USA): Total score: 202.80, free skate score: 131.96, short program score: 70.84.
- Lara Naki Guttmann (Italy): Total score: 195.75, free skate score: 134.19, short program score: 61.56.
- Roena Hendricks (Belgium): Total score: 199.65, free skate score: 128.72, short program score: 70.93.
- Nina Pinzarone (Belgium): Total score: 200.30, free skate score: 131.33, short program score: 68.97.
- Iida Karunen (Finland): Total score: 192.79, free skate score: 127.73, short program score: 65.06.
- Julia Sauter (Romania): Total score: 190.93, free skate score: 127.80, short program score: 63.13.
- Olga Mikutina (Austria): Total score: 185.59, free skate score: 123.87, short program score: 61.72.
- Zhang Ruiyang (China): Total score 178.03, free skate score 118.65, short program score 59.38.
- Ekaterina Krakowa (Poland): Total score: 173.37, free skate score: 113.23, short program score: 60.14.
- Livia Kaiser (Switzerland): Total score: 171.52, free skate score: 115.83, short program score: 55.69.
- Lorine Schild (France): Total score: 167.08, free skate score: 111.45, short program score: 55.63.
- Kimmy Ripond (Switzerland): Total score 159.54, free skate score 100.34, short program score 59.20.
- Maria Senyuk (Israel): Total score 152.61, free skate score 94.00, short program score 58.61.
Katarina Witt believes ‘ranking doesn’t matter’ in the women’s long program
Katarina Witt talks about Alisa Liu and the other female skaters participating in Milan Magic for the final figure skating event of the competition, the women’s long program.
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Who has won a medal in women’s figure skating in the past 40 years?
- 2026: Alysa Liu (USA), Kaori Sakamoto (Japan), Ami Nakai (Japan)
- 2022: Anna Shcherbakova of the Republic of China (gold), Alexandra Trusova of the Republic of China (silver), Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (bronze)
- 2018: Alina Zagitova of the Republic of China (gold), Evgeniya Medvedeva of the Republic of China (silver), Ketlin Osmond of Canada (bronze)
- 2014: Russia’s Adelina Sotnikova (gold), South Korea’s Kim Yuna (silver), Italy’s Carolina Kostner (bronze)
- 2010: Kim Yuna of South Korea (gold), Mao Asada of Japan (silver), Joanie Rochette of Canada (bronze)
- 2006: Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa (gold), USA’s Sasha Cohen (silver), Russia’s Irina Slutskaya (bronze)
- 2002: America’s Sarah Hughes (gold), Russia’s Irina Slutskaya (silver), America’s Michelle Kwan (bronze)
- 1998: Tara Lipinski of the United States (gold), Michelle Kwan of the United States (silver), Chen Lu of China (bronze)
- 1994: Ukraine’s Oksana Baiul (gold), America’s Nancy Kerrigan (silver), China’s Chen Lu (bronze)
- 1992: Christy Yamaguchi of the United States (gold), Midori Ito of Japan (silver), Nancy Kerrigan of the United States (bronze)
- 1988: Katarina Witt of East Germany (gold), Elizabeth Manley of Canada (silver) and Debi Thomas of the United States (bronze).
- 1984: Katarina Witt of East Germany (gold), Rosalyn Sumners of the United States (silver), Kira Ivanova of the Soviet Union (bronze)
A figure skating routine consists of two scores: a technical component score and a program component score. As the name suggests, the Technical Element score concerns the jumps, spins, and step sequences in your performance. Program component scores consist of composition, presentation, and skating skills.
- Toe jump: The skater drives the toe pick of his free foot into the ice, launching himself into the air and creating momentum for the jump.
- Then run: The skater takes off backwards and lands on the same back end of the blade.
- Lutz: The skater moving backwards jumps off the back outside edge of the skate, uses the toe pick of the other skate to launch into the air in the opposite direction, and lands on the back outside edge of the picking leg.
- Flip: The skater launches from the inside back edge of one skate and lands on the outside back edge of the other skate.
- Edge jump: The skater steps off from the edge of the skate, not the toe pick.
- Salchow: The skater launches from the inside back edge of one skate and lands on the outside back edge of the other skate.
- accelerator: In the only forward-facing jump, the skater lands on the outside back of the non-takeoff foot while moving backwards. The Axel is the most difficult jump because of the extra half-turn involved in taking off forward and landing backwards.
- loop: The skater jumps off the back outer edge of the skate and lands on the same edge.
