Alysa Liu wins Winter Olympics gold to end US women’s 24-year figure skating drought
20-year-old delivers near-flawless free skateKaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai win silver and bronzeAlysa Liu completed a stunning comeback to competitive figure skating by winning the first Olympic women’s figure skating gold medal for the United States in 24 years on Thursday night.The 20-year-old from Clovis, California, who vanished from the sport nearly four years ago uncertain if she’d ever return, delivered a career-best long program to overtake Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai.Skating in a shimmering gold dress to Donna Summer’s MacArthur Park Suite, Liu cleanly landed all seven of her triple jumps, including three in combination, and drew a standing ovation before finishing with 226.79 points overall.“That’s what I’m fucking talking about,” Liu said as she left the ice.
As the scores were announced she shook her head with knowing approval while she was hugged by her coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali.Sakamoto finished with 224.90 points over both segments to take silver, her lone mistakes coming on her triple flip, double axel combo and triple loop.The 17-year-old Nakai, the youngest skater of the 29 entrants who came in first after the short program, made several errors in the second half of her program to finish ninth in the free skate and slip to bronze with an overall score of 219.16.
Liu, the surprise world champion a year ago and now a double Olympic champion after last week’s team event, became the first American woman to win individual figure skating gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002.The last US woman to reach an Olympic podium was Sasha Cohen in 2006.Japan’s Mone Chiba came in fourth, one place ahead of three-time US champion Amber Glenn, who had finished a disappointing 13th in the short, but whose redemptive long program ended her Olympics on a high note.“It wasn’t easy,” Glenn said.“There’s been a bombardment of attacks and hate on me, using my lackluster performance as fuel for hate, and that was disheartening.
I just thought, ‘I’m going do what I do best, which is enjoy skating’, and that’s what I did today.”But the night belonged to Liu, who skated third-to-last with the rollicking crowd in her thrall.By the time she closed with a graceful layback spin, the 12,000-seat arena was a white-hot wall of sound.She then watched as Sakamoto and Nakai skated beautifully, but failed to meet her mark.“I had dinner with [my family] last night and that was unbelievable,” Liu said.
“But another unbelievable feeling was just when I was skating.When I was skating, hearing the cheers, I felt so connected with this audience.I want to be out there again.”The outcome was the culmination of one of the most unusual arcs in the sport’s history.Liu burst on to the scene in 2019 as the youngest ever US national champion at the age of 13.
She repeated the feat a year later, then competed at the 2022 Olympics and won bronze at that year’s worlds – before abruptly retiring that same spring, citing fatigue and burnout.She stayed away for nearly two years.But by mid-2023, she was back training in California, with eyes on rediscovering joy in her sport and possibly targeting these Winter Olympics.Adeliia Petrosian, the three-time Russian champion entered as an individual neutral athlete and a dangerous flier for gold despite entering Thursday in fifth place.She had hopes of a medal due to her planned quadruple toeloop, but clattered to the ice on the potential difference-making jump.
The protege of controversial coach Eteri Tutberidze still managed a fifth-best free skate score of 141.64 to finish sixth.“I feel a little ashamed,” Petrosian said, “for myself, for the federation, for my coaches and for the spectators that it went this way.I understand that it’s my own fault.”Liu became the eight US woman to win figure skating’s biggest prize before an audience that included former Olympic champion Tenley Albright, who became the first at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games.
Winter Olympics 2026: GB men win curling semi-final and Alysa Liu’s skating gold – as it happened
But before I go, here are a couple of reports:GB edge thriller in men’s curling semi-final:USA stun Canada in overtime to claim gold in women’s ice hockey:That’ll do from me. What a night of Olympic action. Here’s a quick round-up:GB beat Switzerland 8-5 in men’s curling to progress to gold medal match on Saturday. They’ll play Canada who edged Norway 5-4.USA beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win gold in women’s ice hockey
Britain’s curlers guarantee a medal as Mouat holds his nerve against Swiss
Call it the Cortina Comeback. At nine o’clock on Thursday morning, Great Britain’s men’s curling team didn’t even know whether they would be in the Olympic semi-finals. By nine o’clock on Thursday night, they had won themselves a place in Saturday’s final against Canada by beating the undefeated Swiss team 8-5.The British, who scraped through the round robin only because the Italian team lost their last group stage game to the Swiss on Thursday morning, had promised that they would be an entirely different proposition if they got to the knockout rounds, and they were as good as their word.“An emotional rollercoaster is probably the way to describe this whole week, never mind just that game,” said Hammy McMillan
Hull KR on top of the world after resisting thrilling Brisbane fightback
Rugby league is never short on incredible stories but even by the sport’s lofty standards, Hull KR’s rise to the greatest club side in the game feels too far-fetched for even the greatest of Hollywood script-writers.For 40 years, Hull KR have not just been in the shadows in this rugby league-obsessed city, second fiddle to their bitter rivals whose home they filled to be crowned world champions for the very first time, they have been in the sport’s entire wilderness. Until now.At the turn of the century, there very nearly wasn’t even a Hull KR. Crippled by financial ruin and with crowds barely exceeding 1,000 on occasions as they languished in the second and third tiers, the notion of nights like these ever becoming a reality was nothing other than impossible for a club suffocated by the grip of failure
USA roar back from brink to beat Canada in overtime and claim Olympic women’s ice hockey gold
Rescued from the brink of defeat by a deft touch from their captain in her final Olympics, the US beat Canada in Milan on Thursday to claim the women’s ice hockey gold medal.Hilary Knight got engaged this week to the American speed skater, Brittany Bowe, and the 36-year-old now has another reason to celebrate. Out-fought and out-thought by their great rivals for much of this contest, the Americans were poised to lose to a team they had thumped 5-0 in the preliminary round only nine days earlier.ScheduleAll times Eastern.Thu 5 Feb USA 5-1 CzechiaSat 7 Feb USA 5-0 FinlandMon 9 Feb Switzerland 0-5 USATue 10 Feb Canada 0-5 USAFri 13 Feb Quarter-final: USA 6-0 Italy Mon 16 Feb Semi-final: USA 5-0 SwedenThu 19 Feb Final: USA 2-1 Canada (OT) Roster breakdownThe 2026 US Olympic women's ice hockey team features 23 players, 13 forwards, seven defenders and three goaltenders, and boasts 21 returnees from the 2025 US women's national team that took home gold at the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship in April
Winter Olympics women’s ice hockey final: USA beat Canada 2-1 in overtime – as it happened
And the report from tonight’s game can be found here:Not enough overtime action for you. Norway has taken the Canadian curling men to an extra end!Maybe I’ll watch that now. Time to sign off from here, but there’s still a little bit of curling and a good bit of figure skating to follow today and a big three-day weekend ahead. We might even see the USA v Canada on the hockey ice again for another final on Sunday, this time in the men’s game.Thanks for the emails
Itoje warns against ‘corrosive’ social media after racist abuse of Edogbo
The England captain, Maro Itoje, has warned of the corrosive effect of social media on professional athletes and wider society before the crucial Six Nations encounter with Ireland on Saturday.Itoje will win his 100th England cap at Twickenham in what has become a must-win game for the hosts after last weekend’s deflating defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield. The buildup has been marred by racist abuse on social media of the Ireland second row Edwin Edogbo, after the 23-year-old made his debut from the replacements’ bench in their win against Italy in round two.Itoje said the abuse of Edogbo was “incredibly sad” and spelled out the danger of the online world, explaining why he believes the wider damage it is causing will become clear. “Social media has been a force for good in many ways but it’s also been a force for negativity in a lot of other ways,” Itoje said
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