Alysa Liu’s sudden leap into retirement caught figure skating observers off guard

When Alysa Liu abruptly announced her retirement on Instagram, the move was so unexpected that one of her own publicists wondered on Facebook if the 16-year-old figure skater’s account had been hacked.

No, Liu was just done.

U.S. Figure Skating confirmed that the phenom, who 15 days earlier won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Montpellier, France, was really calling it quits.

Like No. 1-ranked tennis player Ashleigh Barty, who retired from competitive tennis earlier this year after winning the Australian Open in her home country, Liu is leaving at the top of her game.

She was seventh at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, making her the top American in her event. At worlds, she won the first medal in women’s singles for the United States since 2016.

On Instagram, Liu posted a photo of herself wearing warmups with her arms stretched wide. She wrote “heyyyy so I’m here to announce that I’m retiring from skating,” followed by two “oh my” emojis.

Liu explained she started skating when she was five years old. “It’s been an insane 11 years,” she said, “a lot of good and a lot of bad but yk that’s just how it is.”

When Liu burst onto the scene as a jumping sensation, she was only 13. In 2019, she became the youngest skater to win a national title, eclipsing Tara Lipinski, who was two months older than Liu in 1997. However, Liu was too young to compete even at junior worlds due to age restrictions. One of the more memorable scenes from nationals showed her fellow medalists helping the tiny skater up onto the victory podium.

Then Liu’s body changed, and so she had to change her jumping technique. She went through coaching changes, too.

While Liu’s retirement was deemed a shock in some headlines, veteran figure skating writer Philip Hersh told Around the Rings he was not surprised.

”She had a landmark career,” he said, “youngest U.S. champion, youngest to win two U.S. titles, first U.S. woman to land a quad, first to land a triple axel in the short program and two triple axels in the free skate, first U.S. women’s medal at worlds since 2016, best Olympic finish for a U.S. woman since Gracie Gold in 2014.”

Hersh added Liu had dealt with “challenges of physical change that made her a different skater, injury, pandemic restrictions, getting COVID-19, being targeted by the Chinese government because of her father’s past political activism.”

Arthur Liu reported the Chinese government had spied on them before the Beijing Olympics.

Despite the difficulties, his daughter said she had made many friends through skating and so “many good memories that I’ll have for the rest of my life. I honestly never thought I would’ve accomplished as much as I did.”

Liu added she was “so happy. I feel so satisfied with how my skating career has gone, now that I’m finally done with my goals in skating I’m going to be moving on with my life. “

She said she would spend her spare time — of which she had little as a competitive skater — with her family and friends and studying.

”But (for real) this skating thing has taught me a lot more about life that I anticipated,” Liu concluded. “I’m really glad I skated.”

She was the junior world bronze medalist in 2020, the same year she won her second national title. Liu placed fourth in 2021, then had to sit out this year’s event after testing positive for COVID-19. She petitioned onto the team and was the youngest member of Team USA in any sport. The 2022 world championships were the first for which Liu was old enough to compete.

She leaves people wondering what might have been. Liu, who will turn 17 in August, would only be 20 at the next Games in Milano-Cortina.

“Yes,” Hersh said, “she could probably have won another U.S. title (or more) and, in the absence of the Russians, another world medal. But she clearly seems to want to move into the next phase of her life — and, for now, just being a 16-year-old. Both at the Olympics and at the Worlds, she looked happy with skating and happy with herself after a couple difficult seasons. Alysa is going out on a high note.”

Hersh said he spent a day with Liu when she was 14 and her “answers to my questions were insightful and mature beyond her years.”

He also reported Liu’s father and U.S. Figure Skating said Alysa had made no decision about whether she will continue to do shows after this season.

When Lipinski retired from competition after becoming the youngest Olympic gold medalist in 1998 at age 15, she went on to compete in professional events and skated in shows. The New York Times wrote that Lipinski’s decision to turn pro “sent tremors through the Olympic figure skating community.”

She left the sport four years later due to lingering injuries.

After Sarah Hughes was the surprise gold medalist in 2002, she also opted not to try for a second Olympic Games. Since then, every U.S. Olympian in women’s singles has tried for at least one more Games.

Two-time Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan was the 1994 Olympic alternate at age 13 (before the minimum age was raised) and qualified for the 2006 Olympics, although she had to withdraw due to injury. In response to Liu’s Instagram post, Kwan wrote “Congrats Alysa! Always cheering for you and excited for your next chapter.”

Liu’s Beijing 2022 teammate Mariah Bell wrote, “Such an awesome career Alysa. So fun to have shared the last couple years with you.”

Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez wrote “so proud of you!!!” While singer Elle King said “You are amazing! Go be a teenager!”

Liu’s retirement brings an upcoming decision by the International Skating Union (ISU) into sharp focus. A move to raise the minimum age from 15 to 17 did not make it to the final agenda of the ISU Congress in 2018, but the Kamila Valieva doping case has made it more likely to pass. Because the Russian skater was only 15 when she tested positive, she has been treated differently than older athletes.

If the proposal to raise the minimum age passes at the ISU Congress in June, it will be phased in so as not to penalize athletes already in the system.

However, if it were currently in effect, Liu would not have been eligible to compete in the Olympics or senior world championships this year.