Olympic champion Alysa Liu takes season off after Milan gold, promises her return to the ice

Gold medalist Alysa Liu of the United States displays her medal after competing in the women’s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File) Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu is taking the season off following her triumph in Milan.This time, she is certain she will be back.The 21-year-old from the San Francisco Bay area made history in February when she became the first American woman since Sarah Hughes in 2002 to stand atop the podium at the Winter Games. Liu also became the first women’s skater to win two golds in the same Olympics when she was part of the U.S. squad that successfully defended its team gold medal.It was a remarkable comeback for Liu, a one-time teen phenom who abruptly walked away from figure skating after the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Liu had become burned out by the grind of the sport and had no designs on ever returning to the ice.Yet she returned in 2024 with a fresh, almost effervescent outlook on the sport, and it carried her all the way to the Olympic title. “While people are announcing programs, imma take this time to announce that I will not be competing this season,” Liu wrote in an Instagram late Tuesday. “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.” 1 MIN READ It’s not uncommon for figure skaters to take a season off following the Olympics. French skater Lorine Schild, for example, announced last week that she was taking a break “after an emotionally charged season and a few months off the ice.”The figure skating season has already begun with some lower-tier events, but for marquee skaters such as Liu, the real competition begins with the first of the Grand Prix stops in late October in Angers, France. There are five other Grand Prix events before the Grand Prix Final, and the U.S. championships and the world championships take place early in the new year. Liu is a two-time national champion but finished second to Amber Glenn the past two years. In 2025, she became the first U.S. woman to win a world title since Kimmie Meissner in 2006, though she skipped her defense earlier this year after her Olympic victory. “Taking time so you can live life to the fullest and do things your way ... Love you girl,” Glenn wrote in reply to Liu’s announcement.Liu was scheduled to begin her season alongside Glenn at Skate America on Nov. 13 in Everett, Washington, and also compete with fellow Olympic teammate Isabeau Levito at the Finlandia Trophy the following week.Sarah Everhardt will be the first American woman to compete in a Grand Prix event this season when she takes the ice at the Grand Prix de France. Levito is due to compete at Skate Canada the following week, while rising stars Alina Bonillo and Sophie Joline von Felten will make their highly anticipated Grand Prix debuts at the Cup of China the first weekend of November.On the men’s side, 21-year-old superstar Ilia Malinin is scheduled to compete alongside Jason Brown at Skate America and the NHK Trophy in Japan. He was heavily favored to win gold at the Milan Olympics — and did help the U.S. triumph in the team event — but endured a disastrous free skate that left him out of the medals entirely.Malinin rebounded in March by winning his third consecutive world championship.___See AP’s full sports coverage here Skretta is a Kansas City-based sports writer for The Associated Press. He covers the Royals, the Chiefs and college sports along with auto racing, the Olympics and other sports.