Alysa Liu delivered the U.S. its first women’s figure skating Olympic gold medal in 24 years, performing a near-flawless free skate Thursday night in a glittering golden dress to upstage Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai at the Milan Cortina Games.
The 20-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area, who had walked away from the sport after the Beijing Games four years ago only to launch a remarkable comeback, finished with a career-best 226.79 points. Nakai and Sakamoto, skating right behind her, each made a mistake on a combination sequence, and that made the difference in the medals.
Sakamoto had 224.90 points to earn a silver to go with her bronze from Beijing. Nakai finished third with 219.16 points.