Liu, 13, soars to U.S. women’s figure skating title
DETROIT — Alysa Liu became the youngest individual winner at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, stealing the show Friday night with two triple axels and taking the title more than six months before her 14th birthday.
Defending champion Bradie Tennell fell during her free skate, and Liu, skating immediately after, took advantage, breezing through her routine after the two early triple axels, one of which was in combination.
Liu was beaming by the end of her program, and when her score of 217.51 was announced, she put her hands over her face, overcome with emotion.
The ninth-grader from Richmond, California, was the first woman to be credited with two triple axels at the U.S. championships.
Despite the victory, Liu is age-ineligible for the world championships later this season. Senior international events require a participant to be 15.
Tennell finished second and Mariah Bell was third.
Earlier, Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue took a step toward defending their ice dancing title, sitting atop the standings after the rhythm dance.
Tara Lipinski was the youngest women’s champion at nationals after winning at age 14 in 1997, and Scott Allen also was 14 when he won in 1964. Now a television commentator with NBC, Lipinski was there Friday when her record fell.
“Records are made to be broken,” Lipinski said. “It is quite an honor that she is the one to do it. What a phenomenal talent.”
Liu landed the triple axel in Thursday’s short program, too, and she was in second place behind Tennell heading into Friday. Tennell stepped out of a triple loop in a combination early in her routine, and after she fell attempting a triple lutz, Liu had her chance.
Hubbell and Donohue will compete Saturday for their second consecutive national title in the free dance. Madison Chock and Evan Bates were second after the rhythm dance, followed by Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker.
The ice dancing competition is one of the most anticipated events of the week, in part because the top teams have plenty of ties to Michigan. Hubbell was born in Michigan, and she and Donohue used to train there. Chock and Bates are from Michigan as well.
Those two teams now train in Montreal under the same coaches — with Hawayek and Baker there as well.
“We’re pretty lucky that we get to train with the best in the world,” Donohue said. “We’re pushing each other. … We’ve got such a unique, incredible atmosphere where we all love each other, we all want to beat each other.”
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who were fourth after the rhythm dance, train in Novi, Michigan.
Hubbell and Donohue received a score of 84.56, ahead of 82.33 for Chock and Bates.
“We are so happy to be back in Detroit,” said Chock, who had ankle surgery in the offseason. “It wasn’t too long ago that we moved from here up to Montreal, and our family and friends are still here.”
Hubbell and Donohue won the U.S. title last year and won silver at the world championships, so it’s no surprise that they’re in contention again. Chock and Bates were U.S. champions in 2015 and finished third in 2018.
Maia and Alex Shibutani, who won bronze at the Olympics last year, are not competing this season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.