All month long, Bustle’s yearly The Entertainers Problem is celebrating the performers and designers that illuminated our screens and past in 2026
Alysa Liu should be tired. The number skater took home two gold medals at the Milan Cortina Winter months Olympics this year, damaging a historical drought for Group United States. Since then, she inked a take care of Nike , was named ESPN’s Breakthrough Professional Athlete of the Year , obtained her face on a special-edition box of Lucky Appeals , starred in a Laufey music video , and received the essential to the city in her hometown of Oakland, California. However in some way she’s as abundant as ever before. It aids that– along with being preternaturally talented and notoriously vigorous– she just transformed 21 in August.
In lots of ways, Liu is a common woman in her early 20 s. She’s close with her household, even if her 4 more youthful brother or sisters don’t discover her specifically awesome. (“Siblings are siblings,” she jokes.) She lives for her pals– she’s been watching fellow Olympian Brownish-yellow Glenn on Dancing With the Stars this season. And like many of us, she obtained swept up in Heated Rivalry mania — though it took her a 2nd to obtain it, considered that she was, you understand, prepping for the Olympics when it was very first airing. (And many thanks to the Laufey video clip and its “Wasian Avengers” cast , Liu now counts Hudson Williams as a pal.) Concerning terms with her own celeb was, and has been, nothing except strange: “When individuals would stop me on the street or wait outside the Olympic Village for me, I resembled, ‘What is going on?’ I assume that’s when I resembled, ‘This do not make sense!'”
Liu’s 2025 – 2026 period was something most professional athletes could just ever before dream of, and all of it followed she nearly ignored number skating entirely. She stunned the skating community by revealing her retired life following the Beijing Olympics, however in 2024, she introduced her go back to the rink — this time on her own terms, with a concentrate on the happiness she really felt seeking her sporting activity. The respite, and her newly found attitude, repaid.
In January 2026, Liu took silver in the united state Championships, safeguarding her a spot on Group United States. The next month, at the Milan Cortina Olympics, she won her very first gold medal in the team occasion, and the 2nd in ladies’s singles, coming to be the initially American female to medal in number skating at the games because Sasha Cohen in 2006, and the first to win gold considering that Sarah Hughes in 2002
However it wasn’t just Liu’s on-rink success that catapulted her from number skater to super star. It was her unshakable positivity that won hearts and minds: the now-iconic rejoicing after her gold medal efficiency, the touching moment when she hugged bronze medalist Ami Nakai , her supportive sisterhood with fellow Group U.S.A. “Blade Angels” Glenn and Isabeau Levito. And it was her commitment to preserving her very own borders– something Liu continues to prioritize as she embarks on one more hiatus for the 2026 – 2027 competition period. If she’s confirmed anything, it’s that time off just makes her more powerful.
On her favored Olympic memory with the Blade Angels:
I really appreciated the off-ice workouts before every session. A lot of times I would be warming up with Brownish-yellow, and it was truly enjoyable simply experimenting with her. We were goofing around a great deal and were like, “OK, now we’ve got to secure.” I can not have asked for a better Olympic experience. It was a lot enjoyable, and we had each various other. Envision mosting likely to school and you do not actually got close friends– it’s not as fun. But this time around, I resembled, “Dang, I’m here with my staff!”
At the start of PinkPantheress’ “Stateside” video , she does a great deal of motions, therefore several of [my choreography] was really from her choreography, and then we tweaked it a bit to fit my design, or fit on the ice. When she was doing it, I intended to simulate it, so it just makes sense that individuals [on TikTok] intended to simulate it when they saw it. I briefly met PinkPantheress at an Oscars after-party. She’s so wonderful– I believe we were both getting hold of a burger from the very same individual.
On her dream musician to skate to:
Mitski, I would certainly state. A great deal of her tracks have gotten on my list for a very long time, however there’s just 2 programs every season, so I’ve needed to wait. [Just one song would be] also tough to select.
It was a dream become a reality. The vibe was so great. Chilling with everyone in between scenes was really fun, and most of us obtained dinner after. Hudson Williams was so amusing, and he’s truly comfy to be around. Extremely, very brother-core.
There are many different mediums for art. Number skating is one of the ones that I do, and very same with style and how I reveal myself. Yet music videos had actually not been just one of them, so I wished to discover that. I really do intend to skate in a video eventually, just because skating is what I do. That is my forte.
On her personal style:
I really started trying out when I was 16 It has progressed, yet a great deal of what I incline is still the same as when I was 16 I genuinely can not put a tag on it. I’ve met a couple of individuals that claimed my hair influenced their hair, too. I will claim I’m not used to it, however I think it’s trendy that people like stripes also, since I love stripes, so I’m for it. Definitely experiment and get out of your comfort zone, due to the fact that you don’t understand unless you attempt.
On her 2027 plans:
I have a whole lot lined up, let’s simply claim that. Yet I’m mosting likely to begin dance classes, also, which I’m actually thrilled around, since during the on-season there’s not fairly enough time to obtain that done in. I have actually never ever viewed Dancing With destiny in the past– this is my very first time watching it– and Amber did real great. She did actual excellent. I do not believe I would certainly [join the cast] It’s not a never ever, however it’s a no.
