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Winter Olympics star Alysa Liurecently got candid about her career in an interview detailing what she chooses to prioritize in her life.

At just 20, she insists her social life takes priority over training, saying she will choose time with friends even if it affects her performance.

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Less than four years after briefly retiring, Alysa Lui’s double-gold triumph marks a career high, while her unique journey on and off the ice continues to captivate fans.

Winter Olympics sensation Alysa Liu made history at last month’s Milan-Cortina Games, becoming the first American woman in 24 years to win an individual Olympic gold in figure skating, while also contributing to Team USA’s overall victory.

Despite her remarkable achievements, the 20-year-old says she’ll always prioritize spending time with friends, even if it comes at the cost of her performance on the ice.

“I pick hanging out with my friends over a session, and if that makes me a worse skater, so be it,” she told Teen Vogue. “I don’t care. I will jeopardize whatever.”

Though she has her sights set on competing at the 2030 Paris Games, Alysa emphasized that her social life won’t take a backseat to her athletic ambitions.

Reflecting on her mindset during the Games, she said, “I would’ve been fine either way, I would’ve been loving life outside of skating just as much [as winning gold medals]. But yeah, I’m really happy with how my life is right now.”

Alysa first made headlines at just 13, becoming the youngest U.S. national champion ever. At 16, she competed at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, placing sixth in the women’s singles, and later earned a World Championship bronze just weeks afterward.

Following the Beijing Olympics, she announced a brief retirement, citing burnout on Instagram and saying she felt “satisfied” with her skating career and ready to explore life beyond the rink.

During her time away, she pursued other activities such as hiking in the Himalayas and skiing, which ultimately reignited her passion for skating.

“I was like, ‘Skiing is really fun. Maybe skating is fun, too. Maybe I should skate a session and see what the feeling is like,'” Alysa told NBC Sports in 2024.

Motivated by that moment, she called her coach and returned to training, structuring her comeback entirely on her own terms, including choosing her coaches, music, and competition looks, while deciding her father would not be involved in the process.

Many commentators praised her performance at Milan-Cortina, highlighting its joy and ease.

NBC commentator and Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski remarked during Alysa’s final free skate that she had “figured out how to compete without carrying the weight of it,” adding that the Olympian appeared “so loose and completely herself.”

Liu’s Olympic journey has also included unexpected challenges off the ice. Weeks after her Beijing debut, the U.S. Justice Department charged five people for allegedly spying for China, targeting Americans who advocated for democracy.

Her father, Arthur Liu, a political refugee who left China after protesting the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, told the Associated Press in March 2022 that both he and Alysa were targeted when a man posing as a U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee official asked for their passport information, which he refused. During the Games, Alysa was also approached by a man who tried to lure her to his apartment.

Despite the risks, Arthur insisted she compete, saying: “This is her moment. This is her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games.”

Looking back on the incident, Alysa said she felt as if she were in a surreal situation: “Am I in some prank show? Is this world real?”

According to Forbes, she joked that the story could make a good movie with her being made into a “super cool hero.”

She said, “They gotta make me look like a super cool hero or something. I can’t just be the kid that got spied on and did nothing about it.”

The Olympian, however, emphasized that her father’s story remains the most remarkable part of the experience.

Just over a week after her stunning free skate, Alysa met actor Daniel Radcliffe backstage at the “Today” show.

She offered the “Harry Potter” star a chance to try on one of her Olympic medals, but he chose to hold it, joking, “Wearing it feels like stolen valor.”

Radcliffe praised her performance, calling it “the most joyful thing I’ve watched.”

Alysa also met actor Simu Liu while visiting the Broadway production of “Oh, Mary!” at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City.

She spent time with Simu, his fiancée Allison Hsu, and the cast, taking photos and chatting. A source told People Magazine about the meeting, “Everyone loved her. She stayed around forever backstage, talking with the cast and taking pictures. She was just the sweetest person.”

“His fiancée was a skater as well, and they exchanged numbers, talking about how they wanted to go skate together,” the insider said of Alysa, Simu, and Allison Hsu. “Simu was showing off his skating moves, too, mimicking moves backstage. He even did, like, a double turn in the air and then went down to his knee during the curtain call.”