Alysa Liu has won the women’s singles figure skating gold medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics giving the United States its first Olympic champion in the event since 2002.
Skating in Milan on Thursday night, the 20 year old from Clovis, California, led the standings with 226.79 points.
She locked up the title with a season best free skate. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won silver with 224.90, while teenage teammate Ami Nakai took bronze with 219.16.
Liu’s win ends a long wait for US women in the sport. The last American to win Olympic gold in women’s singles was Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Games, a result that has been the marker for a generation of skaters.
The gold also completes a comeback. Liu stepped away after the Beijing Olympics in 2022 and said she was burned out.
She returned to competition in 2023 with a different way of training and competing.
She came to Italy in strong form and her Olympic fortnight has followed that.
The women’s singles title is her second gold medal of these Games after the United States won the figure skating team event earlier in the programme.
Outside the medals, American Amber Glenn finished fifth after improving in the free skate. Adeliia Petrosian competing as a neutral athlete placed sixth after a costly error.
