Alysa Liu breaks silence on withdrawing from 2026 World Figure Skating Championships

Alysa Liu is taking a well-deserved break.

Since coming back from the Olympics, the figure skater has been a busy bee, appearing on a series of talk shows, and gracing the cover of Teen Vogue.

Now, with "exciting" opportunities abound, she is stepping away from competing to pursue them.

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On Sunday, in a statement on Instagram Stories, Alysa, 20, confirmed that she would not be competing in the world championships, which begin March 24, and will air, as the Olympics did, on NBC.

"Hellooo as some of [yall] already know, I withdrew from Worlds," she wrote. "There's been a lot of exciting things happening since my return from Milan, so I'm taking some time for that."

"I will be cheering everyone on from afar, see [yall] next season!!" she concluded.

© VCG via Getty Images

Alysa's decision to withdraw is an unsurprising move, with skaters commonly missing the post-Olympic Worlds due to fatigue or off-ice opportunities.

The defending champ is fresh off of winning the first Winter Games gold medal by an American woman in more than two decades, since Sarah Hughes in 2002. The 20-year-old had previously retired after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, only to launch her comeback two years later, subsequently becoming the first American woman since Kimmie Meissner in 2006 to win the world title last year in Boston.

At Worlds, which are taking place at O2 Arena in Prague, she would have performed alongside Olympic teammates Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito.

© Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Image

Sarah Everhardt will take her place on the U.S. team, after Bradie Tennell, the first alternate, declined to replace her.

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Alysa, speaking with Teen Vogue and reflecting on her love for skating, but also her commitment to evade the pressure it can come with and maintaining a balanced life, shared of winning Olympic gold: "I would've been fine either way," adding: "I would've been loving life outside of skating just as much. But yeah, I'm really happy with how my life is right now."

Still, she doesn't necessarily see her career obligations as pressure. "There's this thing called the aMCC in your brain, and it's where you say willpower resides. I love doing stuff that I really don't want to do, really hard things. I get a kick out of it, and that's where I'm happy," she said.