Alysa Liu knows when it's time to take a break. That kind of discernment has shaped her entire career. There’s excellence, yes. But boundaries and self-care? That’s another emphatic yes. In a moment when other athletes might (rightfully) be reveling in the attention that goes with Olympic gold-medal glory, 20-year-old Liu went home to the Bay Area, saw the people she loves, and “got some good Chinese food, of course.” All her friends came over and dug through the piles of Olympic gear that she brought home from Milan. “I pick hanging out with my friends over a session, and if that makes me a worse skater, so be it,” she says. “I don't care. I will jeopardize whatever.”

When we talk for the first time, it’s a little more than a week after Liu became the first American woman since 2002 to win individual Olympic gold in figure skating. She’s in the backseat of a car, driving from Boston, where she skated in a post-Olympics showcase, to New York City, where she’ll be doing a full media day—including her Teen Vogue cover shoot.

“It was just nice to be around other skaters again,” Liu says of her brief stint in Massachusetts alongside fellow Olympians Maxim Naumov, Emily Chan, Aleksandr Selevko, and Spencer Howe. “After I won, [there] was no sleep…. I went home and I literally did whatever I wanted for five days. I didn't have any media, and I had no commitments, so it was really great. I got to see a lot of my friends again, and just relax and catch up on sleep. I skated twice just because I wanted to.”

Now Liu is ready to take on a world that quickly fell in love with her quirky style, otherworldly talent, and, most notably, her relentless joy. Whether she won Olympic gold or not—she did…twice—she was going to have a good time, because Liu skates for something you can’t get from an accolade; something that comes from passion for her sport and love of herself, her music, her style, her art, and all of it on her own terms.

“I would've been fine either way,” Liu says of winning Olympic gold. “I would've been loving life outside of skating just as much. But yeah, I'm really happy with how my life is right now.”

Despite the way Liu presents herself, most people wouldn’t consider her day-to-day existence to be totally normal. She’s been running around the country carrying two surprisingly heavy gold medals in a strawberry-patterned nylon grocery bag, meeting celebrities like Daniel Radcliffe, making appearances on what seems like every television network in America, and handling it all like she’s just won a game of pickup basketball, not Olympic figure skating.

Perhaps that apparent ease is because working hard is actually Liu’s baseline. “I love pushing myself,” she says. “There's this thing called the aMCC in your brain, and it's where you say willpower resides. I love doing stuff that I really don't want to do, really hard things. I get a kick out of it, and that's where I'm happy.”

She doesn’t see the obligations or attention as pressure; she sees it as another opportunity to be herself. Like many other athletes in 2026, especially those representing the United States on the world stage, Liu has been asked to address the country's political climate. For her, a second-generation daughter of a Chinese immigrant, sharing her story is her most powerful response. “I think storytelling promotes and spreads empathy,” she says. “Some people picked up on it.”

Her father, Arthur Liu, is an activist who fled China after his involvement during the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square-era protests. “My father has a backbone, and so I have it too. He is independent, and he speaks up, and he raised us to do the same,” Alysa says. She has been clear about her stance on major issues, such as immigration in the US, and she has protested and spoken out in the past. This is in line with how she has managed everything in her life, speaking up for herself and what she believes in. “We even talk back to him,” Liu says, referring to how she and her four younger siblings interact with their dad, “but that's his fault. He raised us that way. So he's proud of that, and I am too.”

The gold-medal winner also, crucially, does not pay attention to internet noise about her skating or her life. Rather, she has carefully curated her life, surrounding herself with people who don’t pressure her. And she does not read the comments. “I use TikTok a lot, but I don't see discourse about me, so it's really chill. I don't really hear the noise, so it's not my reality. It might be other people's reality, but really, I don't see it,” Liu says, adding with a laugh: “Besides TikTok edits of me, that's it.”

But this self-assuredness did not happen overnight. At 13, Liu became the youngest-ever US national champion; at 16, she competed in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and won bronze in the world championships the next month. Then she quit.

Liu’s choice to retire in spring 2022 was, in part, shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time she experienced her first true day off. “That was something completely foreign to me,” she recalls. “And then through that, it was also like, Oh, I can eat! I'm eating something I've never been able to eat without getting in trouble before.” It gave her a “whole new perspective,” ultimately leading her to choose herself.

After retiring, Liu suddenly had real time to learn more about herself outside of skating. She got more into gaming, anime, school, hiking, and did all the things teenagers do to find themselves. And then, on a ski trip, she felt a familiar rush. Alysa Liu was ready to get back to the rink.

When Liu returned to the biggest athletic stage in the world, it was on her terms only. Her two-toned halo hair and smiley piercing (which, by the way, she did herself) do not exactly represent the typical ice-skater aesthetic, but they have become a signature of her style. Her routines enable her to paint a portrait as an artist, moving you through costume, choreography, and music. For her Olympic 2026 free skate—which clinched the gold win—she wore a gold dress with an illusion-mesh neckline that created a one-shoulder, choker-top look. As she spun and leaped to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite," the metallic sequins reflected the bright lights of the arena.

In one of the sets on our photo shoot, Liu happily obliges a request to jump on a mattress. I’m acutely aware that I’m watching one of the best skaters in the world do a double axel in a pair of Camila Bustamante boots. It’s a sort of metaphor for how the athlete has approached everything in the last few months: Fun first, results second.

Liu’s final Olympic-gala skate, performed to “Stateside” by PinkPantheress feat. Zara Larsson, was a nod to everything she’s worked for, and the hard decisions she’s had to make along the way to build the life she wants. “[When I heard the song,] I was like, I have to skate to some of those lyrics,” she says, referencing a line Larsson sings about the American dream. “So many people are living out their dream here at the Olympics, and it's only worth it if everyone can be here with me.”

PinkPantheress tells Teen Vogue in an email that she was touched to see Liu using her song. “I feel like she breathed a new life into the track, and to know that she choreographed the routine with my music in mind is so cool,” she says. “I’m so grateful for everything she’s done for the song, and I know she’s inspiring SO many people.”

I read this quote to Liu as she sits in a makeup chair during her cover shoot. Her oversized, striped button-down shirt matches her hair, and she kicks her well-worn UGG boots ever-so-slightly back and forth. “What the heck!?” she says, trying not to look at me as a mascara wand gets closer to her eyes. “I literally couldn't have done it if she didn't make that genius song.” Liu flashes the smiley piercing more than I’ve seen all day.

Later, Larsson added a note that really encapsulates just how much a two-minute routine can mean. “Being a part of culture and history, like I got to be with Alysa, is way more impactful to me personally than any chart position,” she said. "I felt so proud, not only because she won gold, but because she looked so joyful."

The costume for that routine spoke to another one of Liu’s passions: anime. As many fans have guessed, her navy blue gala dress, designed by Lisa McKinnon, was inspired by Japanese anime protagonist Madoka Kaname. “I love the shape, so I had to throw it in there,” Liu says. “I just love that show so much. I've watched it twice. But I really like the colors and the art style.”

In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Madoka is granted a wish—but only if she decides to leave her normal life and become a magical girl, even though doing so will come with big responsibilities and make her life more difficult. Liu can relate: “I mean, she had to rise above.”

Source: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/alysa-liu-olympic-gold-teen-vogue-cover-interview-2026

Credits:

Photographer Erika Long
Lighting Director Christian Robinson
Digi Tech Chris Parente
2nd Assistant Chase Elliott
3rd Assistant Jayson Jordan
Equipment Vela
Retoucher Sasha Fomenko
Stylist Cece Liu
Stylist Assistant Silvia Lee
Stylist Assistant Stephanie Yoon
Set Design Selena Liu
Set Design Assistant Sam Pepere
Set Design Assistant Nicolette Schlink
Set Design Assistant Eduardo Carmelo-Danobeytia
Set Design Assistant Justine Reyes
Set Design Assistant Will Casey
Hair Kazu Katahira
Makeup Michaela Bosch
Manicure Naomi Yasuda
Movement Director Jorge Dorsinville
Producer Greg Birkhofer

Creative Editorial Director Mi-Anne Chan
Digital Director Alyssa Hardy
Global Fashion Director Tchesmeni Leonard
Entertainment Director Eugene Shevertalov
Programming & Creative Development Director Amalie MacGowan
Senior Editor P. Claire Dodson
Senior Designer Liz Coulbourn
Senior Manager, Social Media Jillian Selzer
Video Manager Ali Farooqui
Copy Editor Dawn Rebecky
Research Editor Shayna Posses
Beauty Editor Donya Momenian
Associate Fashion Editor Samantha Gasmer
Assistant Fashion Editor Crystal Okonkwo