Alysa Liu completed her stunning comeback to competitive figure skating with a world championship title on Friday night in Boston, becoming the first American woman to win the crown in nearly two decades. The 19-year-old from California, who retired from the sport after winning bronze at the 2022 world championships only to return last year, delivered a radiant and confident free skate to Donna Summer’s disco epic MacArthur Park Suite, earning 148.39 points in the segment and 222.97 overall. Her combined score put her nearly five points clear of three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (217.98), with fellow Japanese skater Mone Chiba taking bronze (215.24). “I’m not going to lie, this is an insane story,” Liu said in the immediate aftermath. “I don’t know how I came back to be world champion.” Her surprise win caps a season that began as a quiet return to the ice and has now rewritten US skating history. Liu is the first American women’s singles skater to win a world title since Kimmie Meissner in 2006, and her performance – the top score in both the short and free segments – never buckled under pressure. Liu’s spellbinding free skate featured six triple jumps (three in combination), including her trademark triple Lutz–triple toe loop combination, high-velocity step sequences and fluid transitions that brought the crowd at TD Garden to its feet. By the time her final spin finished, the 17,850-seat arena was roaring. Earlier Friday afternoon, the American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates posted the world’s highest rhythm dance score in two years in their chase of a third consecutive world title, beating out Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson ahead of Saturday’s free dance. Full report to follow.
Author: Bryan Armen Graham in Boston