Alysa Liu’s alt style is the edge figure skating needed

Among the rolodex of athletes at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan there is one name that’s dominated the conversation: Alysa Liu. In 2019, the Clovis, California, raised figure skater became the youngest women’s national champion and the first American woman to land three triple axels during competition at 13 years old. The following year, she was the first to stick a quadruple jump. She placed sixth at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Then, she unexpectedly hung up her skates.

Four years later, Liu is back, and so far, she’s been hard to beat. She won the 2025 World Championships and has already bagged Olympic gold for the figure skating team event. But online, she’s been garnering attention for something besides just her game: her striking, alt style. The 20-year-old pairs her sparkling gowns with slicked-back ponytails, a frenulum “smiley” piercing, and bold eyeliner. And then there are her layered halo highlights which have arguably become a celebrity in and of itself.

It’s rare to see a figure skater with this kind of hair on the ice. According to Liu, during her hiatus she began DIY-ing her highlights, adding a brassy ring to her hair every winter. Ahead of the Championships in January, she wanted to tap a professional for the look and found hairstylist Kelsey Miller. Miller says that she didn’t know it was going to be Liu in her chair until the day of the appointment.

“Figure skating gives off the persona of sophistication, grace, and elegance,” Miller says. “[But Liu proves] you can still be those things and skate while being your true self and rocking your personality. You can listen to alternative music and wear dark eyeliner under your eyes. When you watch her skate, she skates so gracefully, and you can truly tell it's her passion. It’s amazing watching the two worlds collide.”

Since its inception in the early 1900s, figure skating has prided itself on strict, gender-normative costume rules. Rarely does a skater defy the rules, let alone completely uproot them. Nellie Hundshamer, a former child skater, remembers the strict confines in which she had to operate within for her skate competitions. “I skated to music from Gigi the musical, while dressed in bright pinks and baby blues. I was told my hair either had to be in a short bob or be tied up perfectly, or I would lose style points from the judges,” she says.

Liu also hasn’t always presented herself in such a free-spirited way. In past interviews, she’s opened up about how, by the time she was 13, her life and career were already controlled and constrained, from her schedule down to her appearance. “I didn’t enjoy skating back then because I didn’t make my own programs, I didn’t design my own dresses. I was just following orders,” Liu has said.

Her sartorial reinvention challenges the status quo, even though she isn’t the first to do so. American figure skater Adam Rippon came out in 2015 to become the second-ever openly gay men’s champion — and he dyed his hair lavender for the Grand Prix series. Magdalena Newhouse, a figure-skating enthusiast from North Carolina, remembers that moment as a contentious one with skating officials. “He even says in his memoir that one of the officials asked him to dye it black before Nationals,” she says. So when Newhouse saw Liu with her dyed locks at Nationals, skating freely, she was moved. “It made an impact on me as a longtime fan. I don’t think we’ve seen someone be this free in their self-expression. She retired and came back, and she’s not intimidated by what the officials say.”

And it’s not just her looks — Liu is subverting the skating handbook in other ways, too. Over the decades, skaters have traditionally opted to skate to warhorses, songs that have become arguably cliché in the skating world. Think Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and theatrical tracks like Moulin Rouge. But Liu, these days, prefers to perform modern pop hits from Lady Gaga, Donna Summer, Mitski, and Laufey. It might not seem that crazy for a 20-year-old to want to perform to the music she actually likes, but in the skating world, it’s a huge step forward artistically.

Adam Reisinger, an editor at ESPN and author of the Substack Kingdom of Ice-olation, says that even the introduction of lyrics into skating songs is fairly recent, a change that was only made in the ’80s and ’90s. “Now, you’re seeing skaters take risks. [Liu’s teammate] Amber Glenn is doing ‘Like a Prayer’ this year, and Alysa has her Lady Gaga program. Skaters are performing to what they like, not just what they think will impress the judges,” he says.

And 11 years after Rippon’s coming out in 2015, Reisinger recalls attending the Skate America competition in November and holding a transgender flag in the front row in response to the U.S. Figure Skating’s controversial policy regarding transgender skaters. Liu skated by and held up heart hands at the flag.

“She’s always been supportive of [transgender rights] in the media. [Her teammate] Amber is also pansexual, and they’ve both been very outspoken about LGBTQ+ rights [and] making anti-ICE statements,” he says. “They’re sending a message that they’re not going to be silenced. I don’t want to speak for them, but as a fan, it’s like they see political issues as human rights issues. Even though they’re in Milan representing the United States, they find their individual views to be just as important.”

Liu represents a generation of skaters who are navigating their career on their own terms: who wear what they want, skate to what they like, and have a life outside of their rigorous training. Rather than this newfound balance hindering her performance, it has only strengthened it. Her championship win and medals are proof — and poised to shape an entirely new generation of young athletes.

“What [Liu] is doing, bringing her own life to the party, is desperately needed in the skating community,” Hundshamer says. “I wish I could have skated to My Chemical Romance when I was young. I feel I could have told a real story. Seeing Alysa skate to Lady Gaga with her amazing hair lets me live vicariously through her.”