Alysa Liu, the 21-year-old who ended a 24-year American gold medal drought in women's figure skating at the Milan Cortina Olympics, says she will skip the entire 2026-27 competitive season to refocus her craft.
Liu made the announcement Tuesday on Instagram, telling fans she wants her skating to "evolve" and that she plans to "recalibrate, fine-tune things" before returning for the 2027-28 season. The decision means she will not compete at Skate America in November, where the International Skating Union had already penciled her in, USA TODAY reported.
Liu has not competed since winning gold in Milano Cortina in February. She skipped the world championships in March, spent April and May performing on the Stars on Ice tour, and told USA TODAY Sports in May that she wanted to compete but hadn't had time to train. A family vacation and a packed post-Olympic schedule of endorsements and public appearances left little room for the rink.
Liu's break is the second time she has stepped away from the sport. After finishing sixth at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, she retired at 16, citing burnout. She spent two years studying psychology at UCLA, backpacking, and, by her own account, rediscovering who she was outside the arena. She returned to competition in 2024 and won the 2025 World Championship gold before capping her comeback in Milan.
Her Olympic free skate score of 150.20 gave her a total of 226.79, enough to hold off Japan's Kaori Sakamoto for silver and Ami Nakai for bronze, AP News reported. The gold made her the first American woman to win the Olympic figure skating title since Sarah Hughes in 2002, and ended a 20-year American medal drought in the event altogether.
Liu described the moment in terms that matched her generation. Fox News captured her post-performance reaction, an unfiltered celebration that left little doubt about how much the win meant.
In a prior interview, Liu spoke about why her time away from skating mattered.
"I started when I was 5 and I basically didn't stop until 16, and I was homeschooled my whole life. And I'm a very social person. I crave human connection."
That candor carried through to her Olympic run. The New York Post noted that Liu finished second in the short program with a 74.90, behind Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, and contributed nine points to Team USA's first-place finish in the team event.
Her victory was part of a broader American women's dominance in Milan Cortina. U.S. women won six golds and 16 total medals in women's-only events, smashing previous records of five golds and 13 medals. More than 40 American women left the Games with at least one medal, another winter record. Those 16 women's medals alone would have topped the total medal haul for all U.S. athletes combined in every Winter Games from 1924 through 1998, the Washington Examiner reported.
NBC commentator and two-time Olympian Johnny Weir praised Liu's approach after her gold medal performance.
"I love that Alysa is showing the entire world, and especially our skating world, that there is more than one way to win."
Liu herself framed her comeback in terms that went beyond the scoreboard.
"I hope with all this attention I can raise awareness about mental health in sports, and mental health more generally. I think my story is very cool. Hopefully, I can inspire some people."
Liu is not the only American champion sitting out the upcoming season. Gold-medal-winning ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates have also announced they will skip 2026-27. The post-Olympic break is a familiar rhythm in figure skating, where athletes who peak for the Games often need time to recover physically and mentally before committing to another competitive cycle.
Liu's Instagram post struck a relaxed tone that contrasted with the weight of the decision. She told followers not to worry.
"While people are announcing programs, imma take this time to announce that I will not be competing this season. I always want to challenge myself in new ways, so my artistry & skating can evolve. It's important to me that my sport reflects my personal growth. I'm gonna take the time to recalibrate, fine-tune things & whatnot. So fear not, I'll be back, & in the meantime I'll be rooting for my teammates near & far. See yall soon!!"
Back in May, she had already signaled the season was in doubt. She told USA TODAY Sports that she hadn't been able to consult with her coaches and that her post-Olympic schedule, events, endorsements, a family trip, left little room for serious training. She added a promise: "If I don't do this season, I'm definitely going to do next season."
Liu's path to gold carried complications most athletes never face. Before the 2022 Beijing Games, she and her father were targets of a Chinese government spying operation, a revelation she processed as a teenager. She later reflected on the surreal experience. "Like, imagine finding that out at such a young age," she said. "I mean, like in a weird way, I was like, Am I like in some prank show? Like, is this world real?"
National Review's Jennifer Tiedemann drew a pointed contrast between Liu and California-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who chose to compete for China. Tiedemann noted that Liu's gold made her the first American to medal in women's Olympic figure skating since the 2006 Games, and held her up as a more fitting representative of American values, an athlete who endured a foreign government's interference and still chose to compete under the U.S. flag.
Whether Liu returns sharper, stronger, or simply happier, she has already proved she can walk away from the sport and come back better than before. She did it once as a teenager with nothing to show but a sixth-place finish. She came back with a world title and Olympic gold.
An athlete who knows when to step off the ice is usually the same one who knows how to own it when she steps back on.
