Alysa Liu has become the youngest US women’s champion in figure skating.
The Guardian reports that 13-year-old Alysa Liu has made history by becoming the youngest US women’s figure skating champion.
On Friday, Liu pulled off two triple axels at the US figure skating championships, earning a total score of 217.51. She was only the third woman ever to land a triple axel at the competition – Tonya Harding in 1997 and Kimmie Meissner in 2005. Liu was the first ever to land two.
When she landed her first triple axel, Liu thought “I still have the second one,” and after the second one she thought, “I still have every other jump to do in the program.”
Defending champion Bradie Tennel finished second with a total score of 213.59 points. Mariah Bell was awarded bronze with a score of 212.40
“All that hard work really paid off,” Liu said at the event. “It sunk in right in right after I did it and then it kind of went away. I’m just waiting for it to sink back in again.”
Liu is the eldest child of Arthur Liu, who immigrated from Sichuan Province, China. She was conceived through an egg donor and a surrogate mother – as were her four siblings.
The California-born sports woman attended Chinese school for three years and then attended he Oakland School for the Arts.
