Alysa Liu won the women’s figure skating world title on Friday, delivering a dazzling free skate to edge three-time defending champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.
Liu, who walked away from the sport in 2022 at the age of 16 and returned just a year ago, defied the pressure Sakamoto piled on with a brilliant free skate of her own and became the first US woman to win the world title since Kimmie Meissner in 2006.
“This is an insane story,” Liu, still just 19, told broadcaster NBC. “I don’t know how I came back to be world champion. I never would have thought.
“Even, like, coming into this competition, I couldn’t believe I won the short. I was like, I don’t think I’m the best in the world. I was like, this doesn’t feel like a win. But now, I don’t know. I have to process this.”
Skating last as the leader after the short program, Liu had seen Sakamoto surge from fifth to first with a captivating, technically strong performance.
But the American responded, bringing the sellout crowd at TD Garden to their feet with a thrilling routine to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park”.
From her opening jump, the gold-clad Liu went from strength to strength, scoring 148.39 for the free skate for a total of 222.97 points.
“This is the best routine that I’ve ever done out of practice, every competition I’ve done this season. This was the best,” said Liu, who beamed in delight and possibly disbelief as the crowd roared and she left the ice.
Sakamoto’s bid to become the first woman in 65 years to win four consecutive world crowns had taken a hit when she finished a disappointing fifth in the short program.
But she gave herself a shot with a free skate that garnered 146.95 points and vaulted her to the lead on 217.98 points.
But as Liu waited for her scores to be delivered, Sakamoto raced over to congratulate the American.
Liu, who has called her first full season back a “starter season”, has now stamped herself a favorite for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics less than a year away.
‘Starter season’
“Personally, I can be so much better,” said Liu, who won world bronze in 2022 before stepping away from the sport, saying she wanted to move on with her life.
“That’s why I call this a starter season because this season is me picking up the pieces.”
Japan’s Mone Chiba, second after the short program, was third with a total of 215.24 points.
Earlier Friday, Madison Chock and Evan Bates made a strong start to their bid to become the first duo in 28 years to win a third straight ice dance world title.
The US duo scored a massive 90.18 points in the rhythm dance, taking a 3.74-point lead over Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (86.44).
“We’re the most prepared that we’ve ever been, and we’re ready to go,” Chock told NBC Spots.
Gilles and Poirier, who beat Chock and Bates at the Four Continents Championships in February, are trying to claim a first world gold, having won silver on home ice in Montreal last year and bronze in 2021 and 2023.
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were in third place after scoring 83.86 points in the rhythm dance.
Chock and Bates, who have skated together since 2011 and were married last June, are trying to become the first ice dancers to win three straight world titles since Russia’s Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov won four in a row from 1994-97.
