Alysa Liu was full of praise for her rivals, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito, following the trio’s hard-fought competition in the women’s singles short program at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday. Liu finished second in the short program, behind Glenn, with Levito in third.
The trio will next compete in the free skate on Friday, and the athlete with the top combined score after the two events will be crowned the national champion. Glenn is the reigning champion, having won back-to-back in 2024 and 2025.
Alysa Liu on Competing with Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito
The U.S. figure skating roster is stacked with talent, featuring world-class athletes such as Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito, who will hope to represent Team USA at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan.
After the short program at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Liu spoke about her rivalry with Glenn and Levito, sharing how they help bring out the best in each other.
“I like watching them skate, so I’m gonna watch them because I view us all as independent artists. What we do doesn’t necessarily affect someone in a good way or a bad way,” Liu said via Olympics.com.
“I get to learn a lot. I’m a very visual learner, so getting to skate with you guys is really rare for me. Back at home, there’s not really many people at my level, so I don’t get to see or learn as much. I’m always really grateful coming to these competitions because I get to see what crazy, crazy things y’all do.”
Liu, who won gold at the 2025 World Championships, finds herself 1.94 points behind Glenn going into Friday’s free skate event that will decide the national championship. Levito is a further five points behind with 75.72 points to her name.
The 20-year-old is a two-time U.S. Figure Skating Championships gold medalist and finished second behind Glenn last year.
Liu reflects on her short program performance
While she narrowly missed out on the lead to Amber Glenn in the short program at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Alysa Liu was delighted with her performance and felt that it was among her best performances in the discipline.
“I feel over the moon right now,” she said via Olympics.com. “I’m so happy with that short program, I would say that’s my favorite short program I’ve done and performed for an audience.”
Fans can look forward to another closely contested battle between Liu, Glenn, and Levito in the free skate on Friday. Just seven points separate them going into the event, and the gold medal race will go down to the wire. The event will be broadcast live in the United States on NBC.
