Alysa Liu Is So Mentally Healthy It’s Terrifying

Milan Cortina, Italy – With two-thirds of the Olympic figure-skating schedule complete, the United States has watched every gold-medal favorite falter except one: Alysa Liu. After the women’s short program Tuesday night, the reigning world champion sits third, 2.12 points behind Japan’s Ami Nakai and 1.48 behind Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto, yet carries the calm of someone who has already won.

Liu, 20, delivered a program of deceptive serenity, opening with a textbook triple flip and closing with the most difficult combination attempted all evening—a triple lutz-triple loop that drew an audible gasp from the stands. Judges ruled the loop slightly under-rotated, trimming a few tenths, but the performance still produced a personal-best score and, more importantly, preserved her spot on a podium that is rapidly turning crimson and white.

Japan’s historic sweep chances tightened when 17-year-old Nakai, in her senior-global debut, blasted out a triple axel and a program-high technical base value to lead at 78.71. Sakamoto, the sport’s dominant force since the last Olympics, placed second despite quarter-under calls on two jumps. Mone Chiba’s ebullient skate to Donna Summer’s Last Dance left her fourth, 2.59 behind Liu and firmly in bronze contention.

The American contingent, dubbed the Blade Angels, arrived with medal hopes across four events; the team gold is already secured, but every subsequent final has ended in heartbreak. Madison Chock and Evan Bates took silver in ice dance, while men’s favorite Ilia Malinin tumbled to eighth. On Tuesday, the women’s short program added two more casualties. U.S. national champion Amber Glenn landed an opening triple axel but popped a required triple loop to a double, a zero-point element that sank her to 13th. Isabeau Levito, skating a Sophia Loren medley for the Milan crowd, finished eighth, 5.75 points off the podium.

That leaves Liu—who once walked away from competition convinced her career was over—as the solitary American still in position to end a 20-year Olympic medal drought for U.S. women. What separates her from her fallen teammates is not technique but temperament. Since returning last season, she claims she has not felt nerves inside the rink. Asked Tuesday what crossed her mind when her music ended, Liu replied, “I wish it were longer.”

The sentiment is startling in an arena where athletes routinely speak of life-or-death stakes. Liu, who abandoned the quadruple lutz that once made her a jumping pioneer, now frames competition as play rather than pressure. “I don’t feel like my life is on the line anymore,” she said, a declaration that sounds almost heretical in a sport long plagued by burnout and body issues.

Whether that psychological freedom can survive Thursday’s free skate remains the central question. Nakai and Sakamoto have both shown the ability to extend leads; Chiba lurks fractions behind; and Russian-born Individual Neutral Athlete Adeliya Petrosian, fifth after a clean short, is within striking distance despite coaching ties to the Kamila Valieva scandal and a program choice—Michael Jackson on ice—that divided opinion.

Still, Liu’s uncluttered mindset may be the X-factor. She enters the free skate needing to out-duel three Japanese women who have already made history simply by occupying three of the top four spots. If Liu can stay true to her carefree approach, the drought ends; if the moment shrinks her joy, the wait continues another four years. Either way, she insists she will exit the ice smiling.