🚨 ALYSA LIU STUNS WORLD BY WITHDRAWING AFTER OLYMPIC GOLD, SPARKING FIERCE DEBATE OVER PRESSURE, FAME AND SHOCKING DECISION 🚨

The 2026 Winter Olympics were just a few weeks ago, but figure skating fans didn’t have to wait long for the sport’s last major tournament of the season. The World Figure Skating Championships kicked off in Prague this morning, but a few of the event’s biggest stars won’t be there. Among the ones missing is the women’s individual gold medalist, Alysa Liu.

The California native has been making a whirlwind of appearances lately, leaving Liu little time to adequately train for the World Championships, just a few weeks after winning Olympic gold on February 19. In early March, Liu announced her withdrawal from the roster; she has been replaced by Sarah Everhardt, who finished fifth at the U.S. National Championships in January. Liu’s fellow “Blade Angels” Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito are still both scheduled to compete for the U.S. at Worlds this week.

Liu is the first American figure skater to win gold in the women’s individual event since Sarah Hughes in 2002 and the first American to medal in the women’s discipline at all since 2006. The drought has been palpable for U.S. Figure Skating given that Team USA had medaled in women’s figure skating in every Olympics prior to 2006 going back to Janet Lynn’s third place finish for bronze at the Sapporo Games in 1972.

Liu, who made a remarkable comeback after previously retiring to win last year’s World Championships, was recently seen dressed in Louis Vuitton at a few parties for the 2026 Academy Awards with her teammate, ice dancer and two-time Olympic medalist Madison Chock. The UCLA student also made her Paris Fashion Week debut this month at the French label’s 2026 show, where she sat front row in a brown denim jacket and matching pants with a monogram Louis Vuitton handbag. Liu was also recently celebrated by her hometown of Oakland, California, where approximately 5,000 people gathered to see Mayor Barbara Lee give the Olympic champion a key to the city.

But Liu is back on the ice, having shared a video to Instagram from a recent training session at her local rink in San Francisco. Figure skating fans can soon look for Liu on the upcoming Stars On Ice tour traveling across the United States this spring, which will include many of the top competitors from this year’s Olympics, including Glenn and Levito, as well as two-time World Champion Ilia Malinin.