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Alyssa Liu is Team USA’s last hope for an individual gold medal in figure skating at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Liu, the reigning world champion, was the only one of America’s women’s figure skating stars to put herself in contention for gold after the short program on Tuesday night.
Liu landed a triple Lutz-triple loop, the hardest combination that any woman attempted, and sat only two points back of leader Ami Nakai and right behind her Japanese teammate Kaori Sakamoto on the leaderboard.
“I am really happy about how I skated,” Liu said after the competition. “And my siblings, my best friends and a ton of my family is out there. And I saw them on the warmup. I also saw them during my program, so, I don’t know. It was a really cool moment, because they never come to watch like this. I’m really glad I did super well. I felt super grounded and I connected with my program on another level.”
Fellow American women’s skater Amber Glenn finished 13th, falling just one spot short of advancing. Glenn was seen walking off the ice in tears.
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Isabeau Levito was dinged for under-rotating her triple loop and got leveled down for her step sequence, which is where she tends to pick up points on the competition. It left her in eighth place and a long shot to climb her way onto the podium Thursday night.
Other American skating stars have seen similar disappointing individual results in Milan Cortina after the U.S. took team gold last week.
Skating power couple Madison Chock and Evan Bates were left with silver in ice dance thanks in part to some questionable scoring by a French judge. Meanwhile two-time world champion and Olympic favorite Ilia Malinin shockingly crashed out of the men’s free skate after falling twice during the men’s final on Friday, finishing in eighth place.
Now, all the pressure is on Liu to ensure Team USA doesn’t have to head home without an individual gold in figure skating.
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“I don’t think about stuff like that,” Liu said when asked if she can beat the Japanese rivals. “Whether I beat them or not is not my goal. My goal is just to do my programs and share my story and I don’t need to be over or under anyone to do that.”
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