Although she’s just 19, Alysa Liu is already a comeback kid. The American teen took two full years away from figure skating after going to the 2022 Winter Olympics, but announced her return last March. 

This season, Liu is delighting audiences with her joyous and inspired performances. At the recent 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, she earned standing ovations, won the short program, and came close to capturing the overall title. 

But Liu says winning is not her goal right now. What it’s really about is growth and realizing her full self and potential on the ice. This is a new Alysa Liu. 

In her previous incarnation, from 2017 to 2022, Liu was a precocious preteen/teen phenom who won the U.S. junior national title at 12 and her first senior national title at 13. She also captured a bronze medal at 2020 Junior Worlds and won a coveted spot for the 2022 Olympics, where she finished sixth. Liu capped this short, but brilliant, first phase of her career with another bronze medal at 2022 Worlds.

When Liu looks back now, however, it seems like it was another person who did all that. 

“Honestly, it feels like a different lifetime,” Liu said in Wichita. “When I see, like, old videos of me, I’m just, ‘That wasn’t me.’ It was, obviously, but it was just so long ago I don’t remember.”

Her two-year break brought Liu the opportunity to start college, have new adventures, and discover a whole different vision of herself in the sport. Liu skates now because she wants to. She has full ownership of her skating, and relishes the chance to explore her creativity and potential on the ice.

We enjoyed the chance to chat with Alysa Liu in Wichita and learn more about her life, current interests, and figure skating plans.

Starting college

Q:  Alysa, a lot has happened in the past two years. You grew up in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area in California, but in fall 2023, you moved to Los Angeles to attend college at UCLA. How did that go?

Liu:  I was in LA for freshman year [2023-24]. I lived in the dorms. Sophomore year, I lived in the dorms for three weeks, and then I deferred the quarter. I had in-person classes, but I was traveling for the Grand Prix, so that did not work out. Especially because I would have missed [one of my] midterms, and they couldn’t move it or make adjustments.

Q:  What was it like living in LA, after being in the Bay Area most of your life?

Liu:  It was really interesting. I actually had a lot more fun than I thought I would. There’s always a little bit of competition between the Bay Area and LA. But I really enjoyed LA. I love the people; it’s like a melting pot. It’s perfect. There’s so much adventure there. 

Q:  How was it living in the dorms?

Liu:  All the people I met in school, all my friends there, they really made it a lot of fun for me. I loved living in the dorms, because of my roommates. They’re awesome. I want to live with them again [when back at college], in the dorms or maybe a university apartment. I’m a really social person, so LA was really, really great for that. There’s so many experiences that people have gone through that are so unique. It was great to hear all those stories and share mine as well. 

Q:  What are your college plans, going forward?

Liu:  I think I will do summer quarter [at UCLA], just because there’s no [skating] competitions, and they’re all online classes. We’ll see about spring quarter. I’ll have to see if there’s shows or anything. For now, I’m training back up in the Bay. 

Having fun with family and friends

Q:  You mentioned you’re a really social person. Would you describe yourself as an extrovert?

Liu:  Oh, yes. I’m definitely an extrovert. I did one of those MBTI [Myers-Briggs Type Indicator] tests, and I got ENFP. The E is for extrovert. I mean, I grew up with four siblings. So I was talking with people since [I was] very little. I just never stopped. Some people take a break from socializing back at home. I don’t do that; I don’t have that break. We have our own rooms [at home], so we can take a break sometimes. But I just love being with my siblings and being around people. Humans are so interesting and such fun. We create so much, and it’s just never boring. 

Q:  In past interviews, you had mentioned being pretty close with your siblings [younger sister Selina and younger triplet siblings Julia, Joshua, and Justin]. What’s your relationship like now? 

Liu:  It’s the same. I love them to death. They keep things so fresh and new. I’m really young myself, and they’re not much younger than me. The triplets are only four years younger. And my sister, Selina, is two years younger. They’re all in high school. Somehow, we’re all so connected with each other. We just love messing with each other, playing around. None of us really get mad; we don’t really fight much. It’s just fun to be around them. You can really be yourself and say whatever is on your mind.

Q:  So you’re living at home with the family right now? 

Liu:  Yes. I always think about moving out, but I love them so much, I can’t imagine moving away. If I got my own place, I definitely wouldn’t see them as much. So I guess living at home is just a reason to continue seeing my siblings. 

Q:  From your Instagram, it seems like you have a great group of friends as well. 

Liu:  Yes. A lot of my friends back at home are skaters, or ex-skaters. I met them at the rink and grew up with them. Then they’d stop skating. I actually stopped skating before some of them, which is funny. I don’t really hang out with my friends at the rink. That’s not really a thing for me any more. I go to the rink to just skate and enjoy. I’m really focused at the rink, too, because that’s where I get to create and do what I want on the ice. I see my friends outside, or later. 

Q:  What are you into off the ice? 

Liu:  I’m really interested in photography. I love taking photos of people and coming up with the concepts of photos, the creative aspect of it. I love fashion. And I love watching movies with my friends. I’ve watched so many movies, it’s crazy. Even last week, I watched maybe four or five movies. I love doing puzzles. Me and my friends, we get these really cool 3D-shaped puzzles, and we try to complete them, like we’re on a mission or something. I love doing projects with my friends.

Q:  What are some of your favorite movies? 

Liu:  Honestly, every movie I watch, I really enjoy. I think I’m just very easily entertained. But my favorite? It’s probably Everything Everywhere All at Once.  

Fashion on the ice

Q:  You have a great fashion sense with your practice and competition outfits. You often wear something different and interesting at competition practices. What do you like wearing for practice these days?

Liu:  Since coming back, I’ve been loving wearing skirts. I never wore skirts before when I was skating; it was always just leggings. I really like the ballet aesthetic for on the ice; I think it looks really pretty. I also love baggy pants on the ice–athletic-dance type pants, but very loose. And I love patterns and colors. Just little pops of it, nothing too much. I’m still experimenting with my style on the ice, and seeing what I can do, because there’s so much to explore. I think sometimes we stick to what is comfortable, and everyone has a blueprint, at least for skating. I want to explore opening it up. 

Q:  Your competition dresses this season are both gorgeous, but quite different. 

Liu:  I love working with variety, and on a spectrum. I hate being, like, one certain thing. I like exploring all of it. And I appreciate a lot of different types of styles.

Q:  Did you work with your usual designer, Lisa McKinnon, for both of your competition dresses?

Liu:  Yes. She has such great input, and a really creative mind. I love her openness as well, with dresses. I love that we didn’t do any crystals for my short program dress. The vibe of it really felt like we didn’t need crystals. The crystals would take away from it, almost, more than it would add. And that was her idea. I think she’s a really brilliant woman. She’s in LA, and I’ve gone and seen her work area there, it’s very cool.  

Q:  You also have great hairstyles for your programs this season [braided updo for short program and bouncy ponytail for free skate], which adds to the package. Did you come up with the hairstyles yourself? 

Liu:  Yes, I did. I have a sense of what my programs are, and I was thinking, What hairstyles would fit best with the concept of the programs? For the short program, I thought a bun–not an actual bun, though, but something where my hair was really put together, and a little bit intricate, too. Then, for the free skate, it’s very energetic, poppy, and disco. So I thought a high ponytail was the way to go. A more free hair look. 

This season’s plans and programs

Q:  What’s your training schedule like, at this stage of your comeback?

Liu:  A weekly schedule for me is Monday/Tuesdays, training; Wednesday, it’s like a half day, I only skate for an hour and a half; then Thursday/Friday, training; Saturday, off. Sunday is also a half day, like an hour and a half. Sometimes I’ll take both days of the weekend off. It really depends how I feel. I kind of just go to the ice when I feel like I want to. It’s really intuitive.

Q:  Your short program to “Promise” by Laufey has been super-successful. People really love it. Have you thought about keeping it for next year, or do you want something new?

Liu:  Me as a person, I love keeping things new and fresh. I really love my short program, it’s something I’m really proud of. And I would never want to forget about it– I’ll always run it in practice, or maybe I’ll have it be my show program. I’ll find opportunities to perform it, even if I don’t choose to keep it for next season. We’ll have to see. I personally would prefer it if I got a new one. I’m already starting to think about ideas. But yes, this one’s going to be really hard to top. If I can’t, then I might keep it. But first I’ll consult with my team, and we will try to create something better.

Q:  Looking ahead to Four Continents and Worlds, what are some things you’re going to focus on for those events?

Liu:  I don’t have too much time before Four Continents. We’re probably not going to change anything, but just work with what I have. We’re going to up my stamina training, especially for the free skate. I think my short program is pretty set. I’m going to work on my jumps–perfecting them, especially in a program. I’ve still been struggling a bit with that, although it’s much better than [before]. I do see my progress, and I’d like to keep going with it. 

Q:  You put your jump combinations in the back half of your free skate this season, even though you’re in comeback mode. Were you ever tempted to move them to the first half? 

Liu:  That was never really a thought. You know, my goal for this season isn’t really to win. I have goals beyond that. Especially because this is my first season [back], I don’t even expect to do well, rankwise. I can only expect to show my effort and just continue doing my best.

But I thought right now, it’s really crucial for me to fully immerse myself in the struggle of what skating is, so that I can reacclimate to it. I can’t make things too easy for myself, especially if I want to progress more. So we chose a really energetic free skate, because free skates already need so much stamina, and I need to work on that. What would make it more difficult? A really high-energy program. I needed that challenge to really push myself, and I think it’s going to pay off in the long run. That’s what this season is all about: Having my long term in mind.