Alysa Liu and just 7 other American women to ever win figure skating gold medals

Alysa Liu's performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics was historic.

The 20-year-old, who came into Milan as the reigning 2025 world champion, didn't just help secure a gold medal for the United States in the team figure skating event. She also won the women's singles, becoming Team USA's first Olympic champion in the event in decades.

Liu made a figure skating comeback to reach the pinnacle of the Winter Olympics. It paid off, as she joined an exclusive club of American women who have won an Olympic gold medal in the figure skating singles event.

Here's a breakdown of the eight figure skaters Liu has joined.

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American women to win figure skating gold medals

There have now been eight women to win a gold medal for Team USA in singles figure skating.

Tenley Albright, 1956

• Year: 1956
• Location: Cortina d'Ampezzo
• Runner-up: Carol Heiss (United States)

The first American woman to become a figure skating champion was Tenley Albright, who won the 1956 event in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Prior to then, Albright had already been a one-time Olympic silver medalist (1952) and two-time World Champion (1953, 1955) in the event.

A native of Newton, Massachusetts, Albright would retire from competitive skating after 1956. She became the chief physician for the US Winter Olympics team in 1976 and the vice president of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1982. Albright was also inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.

Now 90 years old, she was a pioneer in Olympic figure skating for American women.

Carol Heiss, 1960

• Year: 1960
• Location: Squaw Valley
• Runner-up: Sjoukje Dijkstra (Netherlands)

After finishing as the runner-up to her fellow American in the 1956 Winter Olympics, Carol Heiss broke through with a gold medal in 1960, becoming the champion at the Squaw Valley Games in California.

Heiss bested Dutch skater Sjoukje Dijkstra for gold that year. Heiss, who grew up in Queens, New York, was also a five-time figure skating World Champion. She retired after winning the 1960 World Championship.

Heiss was also the first female skater to land a double axel jump. She was later inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

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Peggy Fleming, 1968

• Year: 1968
• Location: Grenoble
• Runner-up: Gabriele Seyfert (Germany)

In 1968, the U.S. had its third gold medalist in the women's figure skating singles event in the past four Winter Olympics. Peggy Fleming was the champion, and she ended up being the lone American gold medalist at the entire 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.

Fleming grew up in California and went on to win three World Championships in addition to her Olympic gold medal.

Later in life, Fleming became a vocal breast cancer activist after being diagnosed in 1998 and undergoing successful surgery. She appeared in the 2007 movie Blades of Glory, and now 77 years old, Fleming has also been a longtime television commentator in figure skating.

Dorothy Hamill, 1976

• Year: 1976
• Location: Innsbruck
• Runner-up: Dianne de Leeuw (Netherlands)

The U.S. had another gold medalist by 1976, when Dorothy Hamill, who was born in Chicago but raised in Connecticut, won the event in Innsbruck, Austria.

Hammill was the last single skater to win the Olympics without a triple jump. Also in 1976, she was the women's singles World Champion. 

In the years after her Olympic success, Hammill continued to skate professionally, from being an Ice Capades headliner from 1977 to 1984 to skating for "Broadway on Ice." She's also made appearances on "Dancing With The Stars" and the Foot Network Show "Chopped," and Hammill has written two autobiographies. Hammill is now 69 years old.

MORE: What is a quadruple axel?

Kristi Yamaguchi, 1992

• Year: 1992
• Location: Albertville
• Runner-up: Midori Ito, Japan

The U.S. went through a stretch without any gold medalists in women's figure skating, but Kristi Yamaguchi was the one who broke the cold spell in 1992. She also became the first Asian-American to win a gold medal in a Winter Olympics event, doing so in the Albertville Games in France.

Yamaguchi beat out Japan's Midori Ito for gold. In her career, she also was a two-time World Champion (1991, 1992) and a two-time national champion in pairs with Rudy Galindo. She retired from competition in 1992, then went on to perform in shows professionally, including winning the World Professional Figure Skating Championships four times.

A 2005 U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame induction, Yamaguchi later became an author, 2008 member of "Dancing With The Stars," and has made appearances in television skating special like "Aladdin on Ice."

 Tara Lipinski, 1998

• Year: 1998
• Location: Nagano
• Runner-up: Michelle Kwan (United States)

The United States had the gold and silver medalists in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics in Japan. While Michelle Kwan finished as the runner-up, Tara Lipinski took gold.

Lipinski also was the 1997 U.S. and world champion, and she was the first woman to complete a triple loop–triple loop combination in a competition. For years, it was Lipinski who held the mark as the youngest single skater to win the U.S. Nationals, the Olympics, and the world championships. 

After retiring in 1998, Lipinski spent time performing in live shows, but she can now be heard as one of NBC's primary figure skating announcers — including at the 2026 Winter Olympics. She has held her position with the network since 2014.

MORE: How does figure skating scoring work?

Sarah Hughes, 2002

• Year: 2002
• Location: Salt Lake City
• Runner-up: Irina Slutskaya (Russia)

Once again, Michelle Kwan earned a medal for the U.S. in 2002, but it was Sarah Hughes who finished at the top of the figure skating singles leaderboard to win gold.

Hughes, who is from New York, went from winning bronze at the 2000 World Championships to Olympic gold, becoming the United States' seventh-ever gold medalist in women's singles figure skating. Her victory was considered a huge upset, as she was the youngest skater in the competition. The runner-up, Russia's Irina Slutskaya, and the bronze medalist, Kwan, were the favorites.

Hughes became the first woman in Olympic history to land two triple jump–triple jump combinations in a free skate, securing gold. She was later inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

For many years, Hughes, now 40 years old, was the United States' last female Olympic figure skating champion.

Alysa Liu, 2026

• Year: 2026
• Location: Milan
• Runner-up: Kaori Sakamoto, Japan

It took 24 years since the last American Olympic champion in the event, but Alysa Liu broke through in the 2026 Winter Olympics to finally secure more gold for the U.S. After retiring from figure skating at age 16, then deciding to re-enter the sport, Liu put up a dominant performance in the Milan Games — adding a second gold medal to her collection after also helping win the team event.

Liu, who was also the 2025 World Champion and two-time U.S. champion, had once been the youngest-ever U.S. women's national champion at age 13. She was the first woman to complete both a quadruple jump and triple axel in the same program.

With her gold in Milan, Liu broke a drought for Team USA in the women's figure skating singles event.

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