THEIR CAREER LONGEVITY. SPEAKING OF DEFYING STEREOTYPES, AMERICA’S TOP FIGURE SKATER IS GOOD AT A LOT OF THINGS, BUT IT TURNS OUT RETIREMENT WASN’T ONE OF THEM. SHOULD SOUND FAMILIAR HERE. ALYSA LIU JOINS US ON OUR OLYMPIC PODCAST THIS WEEK. THE OAKLAND SKATER RETIRED AT THE AGE OF 16 AFTER THE 2022 BEIJING OLYMPICS. SHE WAS BURNED OUT. SHE JUST WANTED TO KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE A NORMAL TEENAGER, LIKE, LEFT THE SPORT COMPLETELY. LIKE I WOULDN’T EVEN STEP IN THE RINK. HONESTLY, I WAS LOW KEY, A LITTLE BIT TRAUMATIZED. TWO YEARS LATER, SHE STARTED TO GET THE ITCH TO SKATE AGAIN. NOW SHE’S A FAVORITE TO WIN GOLD IN MILAN-CORTINA ON THIS NIGHT, TO ASK THE ROAD TO MILAN CORTINA. THE POWER OF TAKING A BREAK, RETHINKING HOW WE LOOK AT THE ROLE AGE PLAYS IN SPORTS LIKE FIGURE SKATING. OR, AS LINDSEY VONN SHOWED US TODAY, SKIING. A VERY FRANK LOOK AT WHAT YOUNG TEEN ATHLETES GIVE UP TO BE THE VERY BEST IN THEIR SPORT AND THE IMPACT THAT COULD HAVE LONG TERM ON MENTAL HEALTH, AND WHY ALYSSA’S COACH THINKS SHE WAS ABLE TO PULL OFF A TWO YEAR GAP IN TRAINING AND EMERGE STRONGER THAN EVER. SCAN THE QR CODE TO WATCH. DYING TO ASK THE ROAD TO MILAN CORTINA ON YOUTUBE. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD IT ON APPLE OR SPOTIFY. WE PUT THE YOUTUBE EPISODE UP LATE LAST NIGHT. WOKE UP THIS MORNING. I ALWAYS CHECK TO SEE LIKE, HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE INTO IT OR NOT. IT IS BLOWING. IS IT GOOD? FIGURE SKATING IS JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS LIKE IT IS. IT’S SO THERE’S SO MUCH DRAMA AND THERE’S SO MUCH BEAUTY TO IT AND SOME CONTROVERSY SOMETIMES. SO YEAH, I WOULD SAY DEFINITELY WATCH THE YOUTUBE VERSION OF THIS ONE. APPLE AND SPOTIFY IS GREAT TOO, BUT THERE’S SOMETHING FUN ABOUT WATCHING HER AND HER COACH AT THE RINK GET THAT. AND THEY SAID, LIKE THEY ANSWERED EVERY QUESTION, DID THEY? EVERYTHING. I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FIGURE SKATI
‘Dying to Ask’ podcast: From burnout to world champion: Alysa Liu’s unlikely comeback
Updated: 8:19 AM PST Dec 12, 2025
Whoever said quitters never win, never met Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.Liu quit figure skating after the 2022 Winter Olympics. At age 16, she was burned out and wanted to be a normal teenager. “I was done a year before I quit. I knew I wanted to be done way before I actually announced my retirement,” Liu said. For two years, Liu embraced life as a teenager, making up for lost time she’d spent on the ice. She got a driver’s license, drove her four siblings to school, stayed up late and hung out with friends. She traveled for fun instead of competitions and even hiked in the Himalayas. She enrolled at UCLA and even took up skiing, a sport she’d never had time to try as an elite figure skater. She loved the feel of the cold air on her face when she skied. It reminded her of skating and two years after retiring, Alysa went to a local rink with a friend. Alysa started skating for fun, and it wasn’t long before she got the itch to skate more seriously. She called a former coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, and asked him what he thought about her coming out of retirement. At first, he wasn’t a fan. “I said, ‘Please don’t. I really did.’ I said, ‘Please don’t. Respect your legacy,’” DiGuglielmo said. “We had a Zoom call for two hours. The story is I had a lot of glasses of wine over those two hours. And she talked me into a comeback.”The two started training together, and seven months later, Liu won a world title in a sport she left as a child but returned to as an adult. In November, she won and claimed her first title at the 2025 Saatva Skate America.On this Dying to Ask, The Road to Milan-Cortina:The power of taking a breakRe-thinking how we look at the role age plays in sports like figure skating A frank look at what young teen athletes give up to be the best in their sport and the impact that can have long-term on mental healthAnd why Liu’s coach thinks she could pull off a two-year gap in training and emerge stronger than everOther places to listenCLICK HERE to listen on iTunesCLICK HERE to listen on StitcherCLICK HERE to listen on SpotifySee more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Whoever said quitters never win, never met Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.
Liu quit figure skating after the 2022 Winter Olympics. At age 16, she was burned out and wanted to be a normal teenager.
“I was done a year before I quit. I knew I wanted to be done way before I actually announced my retirement,” Liu said.
For two years, Liu embraced life as a teenager, making up for lost time she’d spent on the ice. She got a driver’s license, drove her four siblings to school, stayed up late and hung out with friends. She traveled for fun instead of competitions and even hiked in the Himalayas.
She enrolled at UCLA and even took up skiing, a sport she’d never had time to try as an elite figure skater.
She loved the feel of the cold air on her face when she skied. It reminded her of skating and two years after retiring, Alysa went to a local rink with a friend.
Alysa started skating for fun, and it wasn’t long before she got the itch to skate more seriously. She called a former coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, and asked him what he thought about her coming out of retirement. At first, he wasn’t a fan.
“I said, ‘Please don’t. I really did.’ I said, ‘Please don’t. Respect your legacy,’” DiGuglielmo said. “We had a Zoom call for two hours. The story is I had a lot of glasses of wine over those two hours. And she talked me into a comeback.”
The two started training together, and seven months later, Liu won a world title in a sport she left as a child but returned to as an adult. In November, she won and claimed her first title at the 2025 Saatva Skate America.
On this Dying to Ask, The Road to Milan-Cortina:
- The power of taking a break
- Re-thinking how we look at the role age plays in sports like figure skating
- A frank look at what young teen athletes give up to be the best in their sport and the impact that can have long-term on mental health
- And why Liu’s coach thinks she could pull off a two-year gap in training and emerge stronger than ever
Other places to listen
CLICK HERE to listen on iTunes
CLICK HERE to listen on Stitcher
CLICK HERE to listen on Spotify
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel