TOKYO – Figure skater Alysa Liu feared that she might “humiliate” herself on her comeback in 2024, but now she is women’s world champion and said on April 16 that she can get even better before the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The American was just 16 when she retired from the sport in 2022 after winning world championship bronze and competing at the Beijing Olympics, saying that she had achieved all her goals.

But she ended her exile in 2024 and crowned her comeback with a dazzling win at the World Championships in Boston a little less than three weeks ago.

Now 19 years old, Liu said the victory was “very unexpected” but added that her best was yet to come as she looked ahead to the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games next February.

“I think pretty highly of myself so it’s not like I’m insecure,” she said on April 16 in Tokyo, where she is preparing to compete for the United States in the season-ending World Team Trophy this week.

“I just feel that I can improve so much more. I think I haven’t created my best work yet.”

She only returned to competition in October and said her achievements had far exceeded her expectations.

“I didn’t think I was going to do well in competition, I needed to get used to it again,” she added.

“I was like, ‘I’ll humiliate myself this season, it’s fine. I’ll get used to the feeling of competition again and then next season I’ll come back strong’. But it turns out I came back kind of strong this season.”

Liu also said that becoming world champion had not changed her approach with the Winter Olympics on the horizon.

“If I don’t even get sent to the Olympics, that will be fine too – I’ll probably go there anyway and watch,” she said.

“None of the titles matter as long as I have two good programmes that I’m proud of, that I want people to watch.”

Liu is one of several world champions in a star-studded United States team in Tokyo this week.

Ilia Malinin, who won his second men’s title in Boston, and ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates are also competing for the Americans.

Japan, Georgia, France, Canada and Italy are the other nations competing. AFP

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