Alysa Liu dazzles to first U.S. women’s figure skating gold in 24 years

Feb. 19 (UPI) — Alysa Liu skated with poise, grace and beauty Thursday in Milan, Italy, to capture the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in women’s figure skating in nearly a quarter century.

In a gold sequined dress, the 20-year-old reigning world champion was daring as she dazzled and danced through her program set to Donna Summer’s disco classic MacArthur Park, scoring 150.20 points to finish first in the free skate.

Though strong, it wasn’t not the field’s most technical planned dance of Thursday’s performances. But Liu’s routine was brimming with energy, her execution was flawless and she was dynamic, earning a season best 150.20 points from the free skate on Thursday that was more than a point higher than the runner-up, Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.

Combined with her 76.59 points from the short program, Liu scored 226.79 points, nearly two points higher than silver medalist Sakamoto.

“I’m so honored to have this and be alongside the people who have won it in the past,” Liu said after the event. “They’re incredible. It’s crazy that I have the same thing they do now.”

Liu is the first American woman to win the women’s singles figure skating Olympic gold since Sarah Hughes at Salt Lake City in 2002.

“I’m so happy with the way I skated today,” she continued. “The crowd was incredible, and the skate went exactly how I wanted it to.”

The impressively consistent Sakamoto scored 147.67 points for her performance to La vie en rose and Non je ne regrette rein to finish second on Thursday. Combined with her second-place 77.23 points in the short program, her 147.67 points netted her the silver medal.

Ami Nakai, the 17-year-old Japanese skater, came into Thursday sitting first in the competition after scoring a 78.71 in the short program. But her restrained free skate scored 140.45 points, which was ninth among the 24 skaters.

However, on the strength of her short program, Nakai’s combined 219.16 points was good enough for bronze.

The gold was Liu’s second of Milan, having earlier finished first in the team event.