She's golden — and this time, it’s on her own terms.

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After becoming an elite skater at an early age, Alysa Liu walked away from her sport at sixteen years old. She’d fallen out of love with figure skating and wanted to prioritize being a normal teenager. 

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A few years later on a ski trip with friends, Alysa felt a rush of adrenaline going down a ski hill, and the itch to return to sports and skating was born — but Liu knew that if she returned, things would need to be different.

This time around, Liu chooses all her own training outfits and collaborates with designers to create her competition dresses. Off the ice, she gravitates toward a more grunge street style — wearing whatever makes her feel most like herself.

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Her signature halo highlights are inspired by the rings of a tree, with a new one added every year. She started by dyeing the first few stripes herself before enlisting a hairdresser this year.

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Alysa gave herself her own "smiley" piercing (also known as a frenulum piercing), having her sister hold up her lip while she pierced it herself in the mirror.

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She’s an avid anime fan and manga reader, naming Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Attack on Titan, Madoka Magica, and Soul Eater among some of her favorites and carrying a Pochita plushie with her throughout the Games.

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Liu always has ideas for new music and programs — planning her short program to Laufey's "Promise" and competing to a Lady Gaga mashup at the U.S. Championships.

When deciding to  return, she made a deal with her coaches: no one tells her what to wear or how to do her hair. She won’t go on a diet. No one can try to change her. She will pick her own programs and skate the sessions she wants to skate. And, if at any point, she falls out of love with skating again? She’ll stop. She’s giving a masterclass on how to stand up for what you need, while somehow being effortlessly cool.

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Alysa is leading a new generation of figure skating into an era that prioritizes creativity, happiness, friendship, and passion.