Alysa Liu Is the New Olympic Women’s Skating Champion

Hair stylists around the world should get their dye bottles ready. Everyone is going to want the Alysa halo.

With her unusual ring ’do on full display, Alysa Liu is the new Olympic women’s skating champion. Even Liu herself could not have predicted this outcome when she retired at 16 from competitive skating, then decided to return two years later.

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Liu held off an onslaught from three strong Japanese skaters, including 2022 silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto, whose mistake in a jump combination cost her points. New Japanese talent Ami Nakai landed a triple axel and the same number of triple jumps as Liu, but couldn’t beat Liu’s triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, which outscored the triple axel.

Read more: ‘What Is There to Lose?’ Alysa Liu on Making an Olympic Comeback After Retiring at 16

Liu’s win is a victory for more than powerful skating. Her comeback is a statement about autonomy and the importance of making sure women—and, in sports like figure skating, girls—are heard. In returning to competitive skating, Liu made it clear to her coaches and her family that she, and no one else, would make all the decisions about her career—how much she trained, when she trained, even what she ate and what she wore. Teammate Amber Glenn said that Liu’s perspective on the sport is a healthy one that other skaters should emulate—one that focuses on the joy in the sport rather than the pressure and the competitiveness.

When asked after making the Olympic team whether she would feel pressure as a returning Olympian, Liu seemed baffled. “I don’t think anything is going to be hard about the Olympics,” she said. “What is there to lose? Every second you are there, you are gaining something.” In her case, that includes a shiny new gold medal.