“The Alysa Liu Effect,” a phrase that has gained new meaning since the halo-haired prodigy lit up the 2026 Winter Olympics, wearing gold and carrying two medals with effortless calm. The world watched in awe as the 20-year-old, who once retired at 16 to take control of her own life, returned after an epiphany during a 2024 ski trip with her friends. Tara Lipinski, a 1998 Olympic champion herself, remarked that Liu “seems to be playing on the ice now, not performing.” Safe to say that simple ski trip turned into an unexpected chapter of inspiration. Even rivals can’t resist applauding it.

This time, 18-year-old Sofia Akatieva, navigating her own path, was left in awe. For Akatieva, Liu represents a new way forward, especially having suffered through her own trials and tribulations herself. The Russian figure skater admitted that Alysa’s Olympic performance and her return to skating were bound by her love for figure skating, which laid the foundation for the comeback.

“Alysa Liu is a special athlete,” Akatieva said as per fs-gossips.com. “Not everyone can take such a break and return to elite sport at a high level. I think, above all, it comes down to a love for figure skating. It’s not a trend or an episode – it’s the foundation.

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“Alysa Liu showed us joy and love for figure skating in her program. The program was very fun and positive, and after her performance [at the Olympics], only great emotions remained.”

The 20-year-old American star was considered a child prodigy, having won the US Women’s Figure Skating Championships at age 13. It made Alysa Liu the youngest woman to ever do so, and she followed it up by winning another, becoming the youngest woman to ever win two senior national titles. However, burnout, loss of identity, isolation, and other factors led Liu to retire after the 2022 Winter Olympics.

She became a normal teenager instead, studying, having fun with friends, and more, for nearly two years, until a skiing trip helped her rediscover her love for skating. That saw Alysa Liu return to the rink and, within nine months of her comeback, the now 20-year-old had won the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships.

Nearly a year after that, Liu went viral for her story and performance as she walked away from the 2026 Winter Olympics with two gold medals. And for Sofia Akatieva, Liu marks a way to return to the sport after multiple injuries have knocked the wind out of what was a burgeoning figure skating career.

The now 18-year-old won the gold medal at the 2023 Russian Figure Skating Championship but missed the 2023/24 season and most of the 2024/25 season due to injury. She returned in time for the 2025/26 season and competed at the Russian Grand Prix, but had to withdraw from the 2026 Russian Figure Skating Championship due to injury yet again.

And it’s not just within figure skating that Liu’s journey has struck a chord, with her story resonating far beyond the ice. In fact, her comeback has even inspired athletes in entirely different sports to rethink their own paths forward.

Alysa Liu’s graceful return to skating lit a spark in Casey O’Neill.

That includes MMA fighter Casey O’Neill, who recently made her own comeback to the octagon. The 28-year-old struggled for years with injuries, recovered in time to fight again in 2025, and then sustained another injury that sidelined her for the next year. However, O’Neill eventually fully recovered to fight again and returned to fight Gabriella Fernandes.

The Brazilian had won her last three fights, but O’Neill hoped to end it and did it in style, thanks in part to Alysa Liu’s mindset. The 28-year-old MMA star attested to that, saying that Liu’s return and her comments about having fun while competing rang in her head.

“All I wanted was to come back and fight,” O’Neill said, as per a video on X. “Like, win, win or lose tonight, like, I wanted to come back and fight because I wanted this for my life. That’s all I’ve done my whole life, you know?

“So to come back and to win, I’m just like, I just wanna get back in there right now. Something that I did keep thinking about is that figure skater.  She talks about fun maxing. It’s like, so she retired for three years, she came back and she said, “I just wanna go out there and have fun. When I have fun, like, I’m the best. I’m fun maxing.”

She added, “So in the tunnel I just kept saying, ‘Fun maxing, fun maxing, fun maxing.’ Like, I just wanted to go out there and have fun and damn, was that a good time.”

It just shows how much of an impact Alysa Liu has made with her return to figure skating, and while she may have withdrawn from the World Championships, Liu’s impact on the sport hasn’t died down. The 20-year-old, however, is back on skates yet again, albeit in a non-competitive tournament, participating in the Stars on Ice event alongside Ilia Malinin and several other figure skating stars.