Alysa Liu cheer/fan thread

[Sasha'sSpins]

Wow. If Alysa wins gold, I can see her making the jump into mainstream culture celebrity. Of course, DWTS; but also Project Runway, and even her own talk show. She might be that elusive skating phenom who can capture the valuable 18-34 demographic.

I can even see Alysa doing quite well post-Olympics celebrity-wise even without gold, like Adam Rippon!

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to be the type to allow any 'hype' to get to her!

 

[Sylvia]

Alysa was featured on TeenVogue's IG today -

Teen Vogue on Instagram: "All eyes are on 20-year-old figure skater Alysa Liu (@alysaxliu), as she heads to the Winter Olympics in Milan. Skating fanatics consider her the frontrunner because of how effortless she makes it all look: she glides, jumps

2,237 likes, 12 comments - teenvogue on January 20, 2026: "All eyes are on 20-year-old figure skater Alysa Liu (@alysaxliu), as she heads to the Winter Olympics in Milan. Skating fanatics consider her the frontrunner because of how effortless she makes it all look: she glides, jumps, and spins...

www.instagram.com

Alysa wrote "why thank you!" in the Comments section.

Teen Vogue op-ed by Lauren Servideo linked from the post (Jan. 20):

Alysa Liu Is the Unapologetic Alt Ice Skater I Always Wanted to See

In this op-ed, writer and comedian Lauren Servideo reflects on her love of ice skating and what 20-year-old Alysa Liu and her alt style mean to the sport.

www.teenvogue.com

 

[viennese]

I take back what I said about her hair. The new color bands look very cool.

 

[Allskate]

I take back what I said about her hair. The new color bands look very cool.

It does. She showed what it looks like when she fans her hair and it was especially cool.

Alysa definitely likes to have fun, and it's fun to watch her. I just hope she doesn't injure herself in the process. They look a little nervous with Alysa on Isabeau's shoulders:

Fanpage Isabeau Levito on Instagram: "She's so strong #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok"

188 likes, 3 comments - fanpage_isabeau_levito on January 17, 2026: "She's so strong #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok".

www.instagram.com

Fanpage Isabeau Levito on Instagram: "Isabeau & Alysa part 2 #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok"

41 likes, 0 comments - fanpage_isabeau_levito on January 21, 2026: "Isabeau & Alysa part 2 #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

It does. She showed what it looks like when she fans her hair and it was especially cool.

Alysa definitely likes to have fun, and it's fun to watch her. I just hope she doesn't injure herself in the process. They look a little nervous with Alysa on Isabeau's shoulders:

Fanpage Isabeau Levito on Instagram: "She's so strong #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok"

188 likes, 3 comments - fanpage_isabeau_levito on January 17, 2026: "She's so strong #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok".

www.instagram.com

Fanpage Isabeau Levito on Instagram: "Isabeau & Alysa part 2 #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok"

41 likes, 0 comments - fanpage_isabeau_levito on January 21, 2026: "Isabeau & Alysa part 2 #isabeaulevito #alysaliu #milanocortina26 🎥: naebaycam/TikTok".

www.instagram.com

Isabeau may look petite but she's quite strong!

 

[Allskate]

Isabeau may look petite but she's quite strong!

When she was asked who she would want to skate pairs with, she said Amber. She said that they were both strong and could each could support each other both physically and emotionally.

Isabeau is pretty buff. Having said that, I don't want her lifting Alysa until the Olympics are over. I want Alysa in one piece for the Olympics!

 

[Sylvia]

Brian Boitano shared this video today:

Newsweek on Instagram: "Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Newsweek had Olympic skaters @alysaxliu and @brianboitano put their intuition to the test, asking them to identify figure skating moves without seeing them — no visuals, just ice, blades, an

228 likes, 12 comments - newsweek on January 22, 2026: "Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Newsweek had Olympic skaters @alysaxliu and @brianboitano put their intuition to the test, asking them to identify figure skating moves without seeing them — no visuals, just ice, blades, and instinct.".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Cross-posting here from the Costumes thread - Lisa McKinnon shared her custom dress for Alysa's Lady Gaga FS today:

Lisa McKinnon on Instagram: "🤍🩶Custom Lisa McKinnon for @alysaxliu 🩶🤍 🎼 @ladygaga @nbcolympics *We did edit the one shoulder a little after this video, to make it less bulky for her when she jumps. There was just no time to take a new vid 🥰😂 #lis

1,367 likes, 43 comments - lisamckinnon90210 on January 26, 2026: "🤍🩶Custom Lisa McKinnon for @alysaxliu 🩶🤍 🎼 @ladygaga @nbcolympics *We did edit the one shoulder a little after this video, to make it less bulky for her when she jumps. There was just no time to take a new vid 🥰😂...

www.instagram.com

Thanks to @Allskate for the heads up in the U.S. Women's news thread in GSD:

The Road to Milan: Alysa Liu on Joy, Freedom, and Falling Back in Love With Skating
January 23, 2026 • 9 mins
Alysa Liu first reached the Olympics at 16 years old before stepping away from the sport to rediscover joy, balance, and purpose on her own terms. After returning to competition in 2024, Liu delivered one of the strongest performances of her career at the World Championships, skating with a renewed sense of freedom and creativity as Milan-Cortina 2026 came into view. In this conversation with NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, Liu reflects on why she finds skating fun again, how her mindset has evolved since Beijing, and what she is most excited about heading into Milan. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/552-today-83954501/episode/the-road-to-milan-alysa-liu-318975942/

 

[Sylvia]

Orange County Register article by Scott M. Reid (Jan. 26, 2026):

Alysa Liu has returned to skating to become an Olympic favorite

Liu was the youngest U.S. champion at 13, retired at 16, and has returned to the sport with a chance at gold this winter.

www.ocregister.com

Excerpts:

The joy with which Liu speaks about her time away from skating is now also evident on the ice. She is at peace with both her decision to walk away and then to return in large part because she has found herself as a young woman and a skater. Liu has come to view skating not so much as a competition but an art form.
“I’m an artist, definitely,” she said.
An artist who has found something she never had until she retired – a voice, in her skating, in her life.
There are times when Liu looks back at the 13-year-old who burst onto the global scene with a talent so rare that she was called figure skating’s Simone Biles, and she doesn’t recognize her. And there are times when she realizes the person she is today was there all along.
She just had to find her.

“In that two years, I found, you know, what I like and what I didn’t like. I really got to know myself. Because I got 16, I didn’t really know myself. I couldn’t know myself if I only ever did one thing. So having gotten done like, God knows how many things, I realized I love music, I love to dance, and I love exercising. Like, I love cartwheels. I can cartwheel forever. I love moving. I need to let my energy go into something. And I love being creative, and I love having an outlet. And I mean, I had many outlets already, but I was like, I need more, and skating is one of those outlets.
“I mean, I’m still the same Alysa, like, if you put me back into I guess, like, yeah, 16-year-old me, I would have made the same decisions as me now, even knowing what I know. But I think the moral of the story is that you really got to evaluate yourself, and you need time to do that, and you need space to do that. And if we’re able to give athletes that, they blossom into whatever it is, whether it’s staying on the athlete path or not, they will blossom.”

Privately, she decided to retire after the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. While she trained for the Olympics, she was unaware that Arthur Liu had been notified by the FBI in October 2021 and informed that he and Alysa were the targets of what the U.S. Justice Department alleged was a spying operation by the Chinese government. Not wanting to distract her preparations, Arthur Liu did not share the information with Alysa until after the Games.
She successfully petitioned her way onto the team after being forced to withdraw from the 2022 U.S. Championships in Nashville after testing positive for COVID-19. Liu was sixth at the Olympics and then claimed the bronze medal at the World Championships, the first American woman to do so in six years, only the second since 2006.
Two weeks later, Liu stunned the sport, announcing on social media that she was retiring.
“Moving on with my life,” she said in the posting.
“I started skating when I was 5 so that’s about 11 years on the ice and it’s been an insane 11 years.”
She said at the time of her unexpected retirement that “It feels not like a sacrifice – but more like I’m graduating.”

“Well, I kind of went right into it when I quit. I wasted no time. I was going to concerts, which I never could have done before. I also got my driver’s license so I could drive myself around, drive my siblings, my friends, around. I did a whole year at college, and a little bit of the sophomore year as well. I, yeah, I went on vacation for the first time, and I went many more after that. I went skiing, I went snowboarding. Like I got to do so many different things that I never would have done had I stayed in the sport. And yeah, I got to experience, like, real life during that time. I got to know myself a lot more, know what I like to do, kind of what my passion in life is like, what my calling is. And I love the arts, I love dancing, and I love music and that, and I love sports, and that’s what figure skating is.
“So I kind of realized that, as I, you know, was taking my break, that I loved all those things, and then when I stepped back out on ice, I was like, I can apply all of my interests into this. And I never thought of figure skating in that way before.”

... Liu was asked about the low point on her way back to the top of the sport.
“The low point that I learned the most from was, I mean, I can’t even call it a low point, because I feel like everything that you could consider bad, I like, I’m so happy that happened, because I learned so much from it,” she said. “So it was, it’s not a low point, it’s like a learning point. And you got to have those, you know what I’m saying, to grow. And so, yeah, hopefully there are more points like that in the future too. You know, we all want to become like our best selves, and I don’t know, get to experience more. And yeah, you gotta, you gotta make mistakes to learn.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I’m excited for the future.”

ETA that I've cross-posted this in the U.S. Women's news thread in GSD.

 

[Sylvia]

Yet another hair transformation : https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUCq5VnkynO/

Alysa’s off to Milan (she shows a clip of herself spinning in her new dress!):

刘美贤 Alysa Liu on Instagram: "& we off to Milan"

18K likes, 107 comments - alysaxliu on January 30, 2026: "& we off to Milan".

www.instagram.com

 

[OrioleBeagle]

Alysa's costume designer posted on Facebook that her new dress is stuck in Memphis and has not arrived in Italy. Are there any FSU members in the Memphis area that have the connections to contact them?

 

[Sylvia]

@OrioleBeagle it's Christina Carreira's dress, not Alysa's - updates are posted in CarPon's fan thread (positive overnight news - the package has been located!): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ed-a-cheer-thread.104452/page-51#post-6879774

 

[ice coverage]

never mind, see Sylvia's post above.

 

[Allskate]

Now Alysa is carrying Isabeau on her back. At least this time it's just piggyback.

Here are a few pics of Alysa getting her gear and having some fun in Milan today:

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

www.instagram.com

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Now Alysa is carrying Isabeau on her back. At least this time it's just piggyback.

Here are a few pics of Alysa getting her gear and having some fun in Milan today:

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

www.instagram.com

Love them both but I wish that Alysa and Isabeau would stop carrying each other, at least until AFTER the women's singles event is over! They're both making me very nervous lol!

 

[Sylvia]

Getty Images (8 photos featuring Alysa at Team USA Processing today)

Alysa is in Emily Chan's 5th photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUKBTVBiXI5/?img_index=5

Alysa & Anthony with NBC Bay Area's Christine Ni:

Christine Chun-i Ni on Instagram: "BAY AREEAAAAA!!!! So excited to see figure skaters @alysaxliu & @anthony.ponomarenko go through the Team USA Welcoming Experience in Milan. 🇺🇸 Stay tuned. 🔥🔥 . . #winterolympics #teamusa #figureskating #milancortina

90 likes, 3 comments - christineni on January 30, 2026: "BAY AREEAAAAA!!!! So excited to see figure skaters @alysaxliu & @anthony.ponomarenko go through the Team USA Welcoming Experience in Milan. 🇺🇸 Stay tuned. 🔥🔥 . . #winterolympics #teamusa #figureskating #milancortina2026 #producer".

www.instagram.com

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Love them both but I wish that Alysa and Isabeau would stop carrying each other, at least until AFTER the women's singles event is over! They're both making me very nervous lol!

Or we could just let them be people. They're both adults.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Or we could just let them be people. They're both adults.

Yes, I am very aware that they are both adults and I was half joking. Lighten up.

 

[Sylvia]

NBC LA's short clip from team processing day:

NBCLA on Instagram: "Blade Angels or Babes of Glory? Team USA’s Alyssa Liu shares the nicknames the U.S. women figure skaters considered for their group for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. #WinterOlympics"

256 likes, 4 comments - nbcla on February 1, 2026: "Blade Angels or Babes of Glory? Team USA’s Alyssa Liu shares the nicknames the U.S. women figure skaters considered for their group for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. #WinterOlympics".

www.instagram.com

Yahoo! Sports' article by Jay Busbee (Jan. 30):

Winter Olympics 2026: After two years off — and a trip to Mt. Everest — Alysa Liu is ready to conquer skating again

She was a national champion at 13, retired at 16, came back to win a world championship at 19. Is Olympic gold next?

sports.yahoo.com

From the end:

Oh, and as for that Everest base camp cow-versus-chicken debate?
“I would rather be a cow,” she says. “One, cows get to eat grass. And, like, the cows that I see, they’re just free-roaming the hills. All the chickens that I’ve seen are hidden behind cages. Yeah, no thank you.”

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Yes, I am very aware that they are both adults and I was half joking. Lighten up.

I don’t think I’m the one who needs to lighten up.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

I don’t think I’m the one who needs to lighten up.

And I think that you do. You obviously took my initial post much too seriously rather than the tongue in cheek remark that it was meant to be. But whatevs. I'll post no further on the matter in Alysa's fan thread.

Cheers.

 

[Sylvia]

Alysa's coaches excitedly unboxing their Olympic gear is :

Massimo on Instagram: "How excited is too excited… lol Editing by @gabrielapelletier"

219 likes, 22 comments - massyscali on February 2, 2026: "How excited is too excited… lol Editing by @gabrielapelletier".

www.instagram.com

Alysa in the comments: "So youtube channel when?"

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Alysa's coaches excitedly unboxing their Olympic gear is :

Massimo on Instagram: "How excited is too excited… lol Editing by @gabrielapelletier"

219 likes, 22 comments - massyscali on February 2, 2026: "How excited is too excited… lol Editing by @gabrielapelletier".

www.instagram.com

Alysa in the comments: "So youtube channel when?"

Team Alysa all seem to be having a blast and the Olympics haven't even officially begun!

Alysa seemed to have a big beaming smile on her face during the one practice video that I've seen so far! Such a joyful young lady!

 

[Sylvia]

Alysa seemed to have a big beaming smile on her face during the one practice video that I've seen so far!

Here's the practice clip:

The Olympic Games on Instagram: "Go behind-the-scenes with us at the Winter Olympic Games #MilanoCortina2026 to watch figure skating practice of Olympian @alysaxliu 😍✨❄️⛸️"

16K likes, 118 comments - olympics on February 2, 2026: "Go behind-the-scenes with us at the Winter Olympic Games #MilanoCortina2026 to watch figure skating practice of Olympian @alysaxliu 😍✨❄️⛸️".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Here's the practice clip:

The Olympic Games on Instagram: "Go behind-the-scenes with us at the Winter Olympic Games #MilanoCortina2026 to watch figure skating practice of Olympian @alysaxliu 😍✨❄️⛸️"

16K likes, 118 comments - olympics on February 2, 2026: "Go behind-the-scenes with us at the Winter Olympic Games #MilanoCortina2026 to watch figure skating practice of Olympian @alysaxliu 😍✨❄️⛸️".

www.instagram.com

Thank you Sylvia!

 

[cheremary]

Has this been posted here? Alysa's profile in Time Magazine:
‘What Is There to Lose?’ Alysa Liu on Making an Olympic Comeback After Retiring at 16

Alysa Liu on Making an Olympic Comeback After Retiring at 16

She retired from figure skating at 16 only to return a few years later. Now she's heading to the 2026 Winter Games.

time.com

Love her mentality here (the decision refers to trying the new FS at Nationals):

The decision reflects the new Liu, less concerned with conforming to norms and more focused on following her inner compass. She is skating not necessarily for points or medals, but simply because she missed it so much. “Anywhere that has an audience, get me there, I will skate,” she says. And despite the added pressure that often accompanies a comeback, Liu is remarkably calm about her second Olympics. “I don’t think anything is going to be hard about the Olympics,” she says. “What is there to lose? Every second you are there, you are gaining something. I can’t think of anything that I would find stressful or anything that could bring me down.”