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Get to know Alysa Liu: 5 facts about the teenage star and 'Simone Biles of figure skating'

For the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, For The Win is helping you get to know some of the star Olympians competing on the world’s biggest stage. Leading up to the Opening Ceremony, we’re highlighting 15 Team USA athletes we think you should get to know. Up next is figure skating prodigy Alysa Liu.

Very rarely do you come across a talent like Alysa Liu in any sport. Sometimes people use the word prodigy a little too freely when it comes to certain athletes, but it absolutely applies to her.

It was very clear at an early age that she had a chance to be a pretty special competitor in the figure skating world. Now, the Richmond, California native have her first chance to do that on an Olympic stage in Beijing’s 2022 Winter Games.

Here are five things you should know about her.

1
Liu is the youngest-ever U.S. women's national champion

Liu is only 16 years old, but she’s already made so much history in her young career.

She’s the youngest woman to ever win a U.S. national championship after winning her first title at 13. She also won another national championship a year later in 2020 and became the youngest person to win two senior national titles at just 14 years old.

She’s already arrived.

2
She began skating at just 5 years old

Liu first started skating at 5 years old with her father, according to US Figure Skating Fan Zone.

She began working with her first coach, former figure skater Laura Lipensky, shortly after. By 12 years old, she became the youngest skater in history and third American woman ever to land a triple axel in an international competition.

She’s that good.

3
She's been called the 'Simone Biles of figure skating'

(Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)

Retired figure skater and Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon originally made the comparison back in 2020 in an interview with Business Insider.

“Alysa does things so easily, but if you’re an average viewer, you almost don’t appreciate how difficult and revolutionary the program that she’s putting out is,” he said.

That’s some pretty big praise to heap onto the shoulders of a 16 year old. Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast ever and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. Living up to that standard is a lot.

Clearly, though, it’s well deserved.

However, while Liu is clearly one of the best American figure skaters right now, but she’ll face some seriously steep competition in Beijing, particularly from Russia’s own teenage phenoms.

4
She's made quite a bit of history with her triple axel

She became the first American woman to land a quad lutz in competition and the first woman ever to land a quad and a triple axel in the same program during the same competition.

If you don’t know what those are, that’s OK. Just know they are not easy. But she certainly made them look like it.

5
She's got a great sense of humor

Here she is having an absolute blast on Instagram remembering the time she got a pogo stick.

She is just the best.

Figure skating at the 2022 Beijing Olympics begins Friday, Feb. 4.

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