<\/p>\n
Alysa Liu is one of a kind. The 20-year-old figure skater from Clovis, Calif., has emerged as one of Team USA\u2019s standout performers \u2014 and at this year\u2019s Winter Olympics, she already has one gold medal to her name.<\/p>\n
It seems Liu has always been in a league of her own. At just 13 years old, she became the youngest-ever national champion \u2014 breaking Tara Lipinski\u2019s record<\/a> \u2014\u00a0and the first U.S. woman to land three triple axels during a performance. She made history again the following year as the first to land a quadruple jump in competition.<\/p>\n Liu has represented her country several times before the 2026 Winter Olympics: She won bronze at the 2022 World Championships and made the Olympic team in 2022, placing sixth in Beijing before retiring at 16. Now, four years later, Liu is out of retirement and skating entirely on her own terms. Set to compete two more times in Milan Cortina, Liu\u2019s already won Olympic gold: She placed second in the women\u2019s short program on Feb. 6, which was pivotal to helping the U.S. win a team gold medal.\u00a0On Tuesday, she hit the ice for the women\u2019s single skating short program and placed third.<\/p>\n Below, Yahoo rounded up everything to know about the Olympic darling, from her distinctive alt-girl style to her admiration for pop singer Laufey<\/a>.<\/p>\n A quick glance at the horizontal blonde and brunette stripes in her hair, and you know almost immediately that it\u2019s Liu. The figure skater has been DIY-dyeing a blonde ring to the crown of her head every year since 2023, giving it that halo effect.<\/p>\n \u201cI do this every year. I add a stripe, so it’s going to be like this for a year. Then next year, wintertime, like end of December, I do another ring,\u201d Liu told NBC New York<\/a>. \u201cSo this one I did at the end of 2023, then did another one in 2024 and 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Liu enlisted St. Louis-based hairstylist Kelsey Miller<\/a> to freshen up her locks and create a stronger contrast between the blonde and brunette. The process took about five hours, according to Miller.<\/p>\n \u201cYour hair is truly your identity,\u201d Miller told Allure<\/a>. \u201cIt can help you with your confidence. \u2026 I love to see that this is brought into the sports world because I feel like [the confidence that comes from it] only makes her a better athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond her distinctive halo hair, Liu also has a distinctive piercing. That bit of metal you glimpse when she grins on the ice? That\u2019s her \u201csmiley.\u201d Referred to casually as a \u201csmiley\u201d piercing, Liu has her frenulum pierced, which is the thin strip of tissue that connects the upper lip to the upper gum. The subtle modification, which Liu actually did herself, is another defining feature of her alt-girl look.<\/p>\n Liu\u2019s self-assurance and deviation from the status quo has garnered praise from viewers at home. Her halo hair, \u201csmiley\u201d piercing and unique approach to figure skating costumes are welcomed departures for fans of the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cAlysa Liu\u2019s alternative style heals the kid in me that was told to be a \u2018beautiful swan\u2019 growing up,\u201d one Reddit user wrote<\/a>. \u201cI grew up in a skating environment and world where figure skaters had to be just \u2018pretty\u2019 \u2018elegant\u2019 \u2018pristine.\u2019 \u2026 It\u2019s just awesome to me to have more representation of skaters that love the sport, and flaunt their own taste in style.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Reddit user added, \u201cI think the biggest thing is, Alysa is a person who happens to be a competitive skater, not the other way around. She\u2019s not letting preconceived ideas of what a skater looks like stop her from expressing herself because she knows how much more there is to life outside of skating now.\u201d<\/p>\n Liu put on a show-stopping performance<\/a> during the figure skating team event in her 2026 Winter Olympics debut on Friday. The roars of applause from her teammates and fans at the Milano Ice Skating Arena were immediate, as the 20-year-old, who stepped out in a moody, cream-and-gray gradient dress, launched into her routine.<\/p>\n In the routine, set to \u201cPromise<\/a>\u201d by Grammy-winning jazz-pop singer Laufey, Liu glided gracefully across the ice, landing several technically challenging moves, including a double axel, a triple Lutz and a triple loop, which earned her second overall. Liu\u2019s song selection is also believed by fans to reflect her emotional return to the sport<\/a>, and the complexities that came with making that decision.<\/p>\n Liu, who has previously performed to Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cPaparazzi\u201d and \u201cBad Romance,\u201d has also taken to helping design her own dresses in collaboration with renowned figure-skating designers like Lisa McKinnon<\/a>, who brought her team event garment to life.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so into fashion, and I love being able to control little things,\u201d Liu told Elle<\/a> in a story published last week. \u201cEven my training outfits, I get to choose now. Before, I didn\u2019t. Isn\u2019t that crazy? But now I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Liu spoke out about the current political climate in the U.S. and the need to acknowledge the \u201cfaults in our own government\u201d ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so many protests that are going on and I\u2019ve attended. Coming from a family of immigrants, I think immigrants deserve rights,\u201d she told ABC last October<\/a>. \u201cI think it\u2019s a little silly, especially in America.\u201d<\/p>\nShe has halo hair and a \u2018smiley\u2019 piercing<\/h2>\n
She\u2019s beloved for being herself<\/h2>\n
She set her comeback performance to a Laufey song<\/h2>\n
She advocates for immigrant rights<\/h2>\n
She hit a personal best during the women\u2019s short program<\/h2>\n