(Photo credit score: REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli)
MILAN — Alysa Liu produced a stunning efficiency to win the gold medal on the Milan Cortina Games as she capped a outstanding comeback journey to snap a 20-year Olympic medal drought for Americans within the ladies’s determine skating occasion.
Kaori Sakamoto secured silver forward of teenaged Japanese teammate Ami Nakai, who claimed bronze.
In a commanding and joyful efficiency, Liu nailed soar after soar because the sold-out crowd on the Milano Ice Skating Arena erupted.
Liu surprised the skating world when she retired from the game at age 16 after the Beijing Games in 2022 citing burnout and the will to pursue different pursuits.
She returned two years later with a newfound perspective on the game, taking management of her packages and coaching, and received the world championship in Boston final yr.
‘That was unreal,’ she stated after the gold medal was positioned round her neck.
‘Never would have thought,’ she added, shaking her head.
Aptly wearing a shimmering gold outfit, she celebrated her flawless efficiency by playfully flicking again her striped ponytail on the finish of her routine.
Her efficiency left her teammate Ilia Malinin punching the air in delight as he watched on from the stands and earned Liu a season-best rating of 150.20 for her free skate and a complete of 226.79.
It was Liu’s second gold medal in Milan following the United States’ triumph within the group competitors earlier within the Games.
She got here into Thursday’s competitors because the U.S.’s final practical hope for gold after teammates and fellow ‘Blade Angels’ Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito put themselves out of rivalry in Tuesday’s quick program. Liu delivered seven hovering triple jumps on Thursday to grow to be the primary American girl to win a person medal since Sasha Cohen captured silver in 2006 and the primary U.S. gold medalist since Sarah Hughes triumphed in Salt Lake City in 2002.
Sakamoto, a favourite coming into the competitors, was trying to win her first gold medal in her ultimate Olympics nevertheless it was to not be because the three-time world champion and Beijing bronze medalist paid the value for failing to ship one in every of her soar mixtures. She completed second with a complete of 224.90.
Nakai got here into Thursday’s free skate main each Sakamoto and Liu. While she nailed her opening triple Axel, her subsequent component didn’t go to plan as she mistimed the anticipated triple loop-triple toe loop mixture and needed to accept a triple-double effort — which successfully value her the gold.
The 17-year-old surprisingly completed a lowly ninth within the free skate however secured bronze with a complete of 219.16.
The extremely anticipated ladies’s occasion marked the top of the determine skating competitors on the Milan Cortina Games. Musician Megan Thee Stallion and tennis nice Maria Sharapova had been amongst these in attendance.
–Reuters, particular to Field Level Media