American superstar Alysa Liu added Olympic figure skating gold to her world title as she beat a standout field in the women’s final.
Liu came into the free skate in third place following a couple of errors in the short program, but produced a performance for the ages.
Appropriately wearing a sparkly gold dress and performing to Donna Summer, she scored a staggering 150.20 in her free skate.
It pushed her to the top of the leaderboard with an overall score of 226.79, narrowly beating Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto – who Liu beat to the world title last year.
Sakamoto, in her final performance before retirement, won silver with 17-year-old compatriot Ami Nakai claiming bronze.
Japan’s Mone Chiba finished fourth, ahead of Amber Glenn – who rose from 13th to fifth after an excellent free skate – while Russian champion Adeliia Petrosian came sixth following a fall.
Liu, 20, becomes the first American Olympic champion in women’s figure skating since Sarah Hughes in 2002, and the first USA medallist since Sasha Cohen in 2006.
She was playing catch up on Nakai – leader after the short program – and Sakamoto after Tuesday night following a mistake on her triple lutz where she failed to fully rotate in the element.
But there were no mistakes here with a truly showstopping routine that drew deafening cheers from the crowd.
It was a much needed boost for the USA, as their only gold in singles figure skating following Ilia Malinin’s collapse in the men’s event.
Malinin was among those in the crowd who gave Liu – the alt girl with her iconic halo hair and lip piercing – a standing ovation as she wrote herself into Olympic folklore.
“My family is out there, my friends are out there. I had to put on a show for them,” she said.
“When I see other people smiling, because I see them in the audience, I have to smile, too. I have no poker face.”
It completes a remarkable comeback for Liu, who previously quit the sport aged 16 after missing out on a medal at Beijing 2022. (BBC NEWS)
