American Alysa Liu wins the gold in the world of skating of figures a year after returning to sport

BOSTON – The best showed up at the TD Garden, a building in which the champions shine the brightest, Friday for the free female skate at the world skating championships of figures in 2025.

Amber Glenn, the American favorite, brought its best performance and dazzled the crowd. The three -time world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan has passed Glenn with a huge declaration of its splendor, climbing up to the package, its comfort area. We would have liked something spectacular to win this night, to beat the best women in their “A” games.

And Alysa Liu seemed born for this moment. He left them breathless. He dominated the short program and the free skate, capturing his first gold medal of the world championship, winning with a score of 222.97. Sakamoto took silver, five points behind with a 217.98. The Japanese coach Chiba took bronze.

Once he was prophesied as Liu would return the glory to the skating of the women of the women.

In 2019, like a 13 year old, she became the youngest woman ever to win gold in the US championships. A prodigy was born. The sparkling girl of Oakland, California, with a smile hot enough to soften the ice, was going to the top. In 2020, before the world turned off, his American title defended. At 14, the future of American women in sport was greased.

But at 15, she arrived fourth in the US championships. At 16, in a demonstration of balance in an unbearable way of his age, he concluded Settimo in a winter game games dominated by the Russians. He then retired after a bronze medal at the World Championships a month later.

Now, at 19, Liu – after two and a half years from this sport – is about to create that prophecy.

“I have no words. I never thought of doing such a program,” he said on NBC after the routine. “This is the best program I’ve ever done.”

Liu’s excellence both in the short program and in free skating probably affect his name in the American contingency for the winter Olympics very little. The skating of united states figures can take any three woman choosing in Milan, regardless of how they finished in these worlds. But Liu dotted his case with a performance of his maturation as a woman and skater.

To get out of the pension, go up to the bright phase of the World Championships and perform it as he did – in such a coherent way and with a command that feels effortlessly – reposition it as a candidate for the first American gold in 24 years.

“I won’t lie,” he said on NBC. “This is a crazy story.”

Glenn – whose surprising fall attempted a triple ax in the short program condemned his hopes of gold medal – arrived fifth.

The American Isabeau Levito – who has dazzled in his short program, an extraordinary revelation after a stress fracture in the right foot held her from the US championships in January – saw her golden hopes disappear in the minute of opening of her free skating. He collapsed in his opening jump. The rest of his routine was as clean as elegant. But the autumn abandoned her from the dispute with gold medicine, a reality that he immediately recognized after his routine with a look of disappointment. He finished fourth.

Levito still managed to smile after raising his eyes and raised his hands. The silver medal of the 2024 world championship not only landed in second place after its routine – publishing a total score of 209.84 – has revived as a serious contender to represent the United States at the Winter Olympics.

This story will be updated.

(Photo of Alysa Liu after Friday free Skate: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)