The women’s free skate at the Olympic Games in Italy will be a thrill. In an exciting competition, the American Alysa Liu takes gold.
US figure skater Alysa Liu was crowned with Olympic victory at the Winter Games in Italy less than two years after her comeback. The 20-year-old world champion improved from third to first place thanks to an almost perfect free skate.
The Japanese Kaori Sakamoto came second ahead of her teammate Ami Nakai, who celebrated her Olympic debut at the age of 17. For Sakamoto, who won bronze four years ago, the appearance in Italy was a farewell to the Olympic stage. She ended her career after the season.
But Liu stole the show from the two Asian women. She is the first American Olympic women’s figure skating champion since Sarah Hughes in Salt Lake City in 2002. “It was so nice to see her joy, her light-heartedness. She showed her jumps with great confidence,” said two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt on ARD. “It was a very good competition, not a fall festival like the men’s.”
Liu completes her dream comeback
In 2022, when she was 16 years old, Liu surprisingly decided to end her career. She then returned for the 2024/2025 season and became world champion straight away. Now she finally crowned herself in front of figure skating superstar Ilia Malinin.
The American champion Amber Glenn, who had made a serious mistake in the short program, improved from 13th to 5th place. Despite the third best freestyle, it wasn’t enough for a medal.
German starting for Romania is 17th.
There was no runner for Germany, but an athlete born in Germany took part anyway. Julia Sauter, who competed for Romania, took 17th place. When she was 15 years old, she was removed from the squad in Germany because she couldn’t do two different triple jumps. In the freestyle she jumped a total of six triple jumps, four of which were different.
“I support our German runners, I live in Germany. I love our German couples and I cheer them on just as much, but for my career it is the country of Romania,” said Sauter, who was born in Baden-Württemberg.
dpa
