BOSTON (AP) 鈥 Alysa Liu skated around the ice in disbelief, her golden dress shimmering in the lights of TD Garden, and the appreciative roar from a sellout crowd reminded her why she had returned to the sport following a nearly two-year retirement.
When her score was finally read, the 19-year-old from Clovis, California, had made history.
Liu became the first American womensa国际传媒 figure skating world champion in nearly two decades, dethroning three-time defending champ Kaori Sakamoto with a brilliant free skate Friday night. Her program to a rendition of 鈥淢acArthur Park鈥 by Boston native Donna Summer earned her a standing ovation, and allowed Liu to finish with 222.97 points.
鈥淚 mean, it means so much to me and everything I've been through,鈥 Liu said. 鈥淢y last skating experience, my time away and this time around 鈥 I'm so happy, I guess. I'm mostly glad I could put out two of my best performances.鈥
Liu's coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, pulled her into a hug in the kiss-and-cry area of the arena. Moments later, Sakamoto came over from where she had watched in the leader's chair and squeezed her tightly, as if Japansa国际传媒 hero was passing Liu the torch as the first world champion from the U.S. since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium in 2006.
鈥淲hat the hell?鈥 Liu asked in disbelief. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. I don鈥檛 know how to process this.鈥
Sakamoto finished with 217.98 points to add a silver medal to her three previous golds. Her Japanese teammate, Mone Chiba, was third with 215.24 points while Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn gave the Americans three of the top five.
鈥淲e are all so strong,鈥 Levito said, 鈥渁nd we are all such fighters, and we all have our strengths, and are so different but we鈥檙e all so sweet with each other. I鈥檓 just so glad these are my fellow Team USA skaters.鈥
Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., finished 11th with a season-best 190.79. The 22-year-old posted the sixth-best short program on Wednesday but ranked 11th in the free skate.
Schizas fell just shy of the top-10 finish needed to earn Canada two provisional spots in the womensa国际传媒 event at next year's Olympics.
鈥淚'm a little disappointed, but these things happen,鈥 said Schizas, who achieved her best result at worlds. 鈥淭here was a lot of pressure today and I'm still satisfied with the way I skated. It wasn't perfect, but I feel like I was well prepared. I perhaps had a little less speed and that got reflected in my program.鈥
Liu was once considered the sport's rising star, the youngest-ever U.S. champ when she triumphed at the age of 13 in 2019, and then defended her title the following year. She fulfilled a childhood ambition by qualifying for the Olympics, finishing sixth at the 2022 Beijing Games, and earned a bronze medal at the world championships that year.
Then she stepped away. Liu decided that skating had become less of joy and more of a job, and she wanted to focus on being a normal college student. It wasn't until she went on a ski trip and felt the rush of competition 鈥 albeit in a much different way, and with far lower stakes 鈥 that she began to think about a comeback.
Early last year, she made it official with a cryptic posting on social media. And while the path back in a notoriously fickle sport was bumpy, to be sure, Liu took a big step forward with her second-place finish to Glenn at the U.S. championships.
She took the last step up on the podium Friday night.
鈥淣ot every yesterday, I didn't expect this. I didn't have expectations coming in,鈥 Liu said. 鈥淚 never have expectations coming into competitions anymore. It's moreso, 鈥榃hat can I put out performance-wise?鈥 I really met my expectations on my part.鈥
She left Sakamoto, the erstwhile champion, with feelings of awe and admiration.
鈥淪he went away and now she's back, and the world champion,鈥 Sakamoto said. 鈥淚 wouldn't say she's changed. Her cheerfulness and kindness and the way she's always happy brought her to the stop step of the podium.鈥
Earlier in the night, American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates built a big cushion as they chase their third consecutive title, scoring a season-best 90.18 points for their rhythm dance to lead Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
Gilles and Poirier scored 86.44 points to their dance, set to music from The Beach Boys. They held the lead only long enough for the U.S. duo to finish their 鈥渢our of the decades鈥 program, which earned them a raucous ovation inside TD Garden.
The International Skating Union chose the theme this season of social dances and styles of the 1950sa国际传媒, 60sa国际传媒 and 70sa国际传媒. But while some skaters picked one 鈥 the Watusi, the Madison or disco 鈥 Chock and Bates threw it all into their rollicking showcase.
鈥淚t was probably the most fun I've had thus far on competitive ice in a performance, maybe ever,鈥 Chock said. 鈥淚t was really a joy to perform in front of a home crowd and share that excitement with Evan. It was the best.鈥
Now, Chock and Bates will try to finish off the first three-peat since Russia's Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov in the 1990s.
鈥淭hatsa国际传媒 a tough amount of points to catch up on,鈥 Poirier admitted, 鈥渂ut we also know that sport is really unpredictable.鈥
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