Early juvenile career Liu began skating at age five when her father, a fan of
Michelle Kwan, brought her to the Oakland Ice Center in
Oakland, California. She began taking group lessons with her first and childhood coach, Laura Lipetsky, a former figure skater who had trained under
Frank Carroll, and quickly moved to individual sessions. In October, Liu was invited to the 2020 Las Vegas Invitational, a domestic competition sponsored by
U.S. Figure Skating, as part of Team
Johnny. Unable to compete at full strength after a fall on her triple Axel in practice led to a right hip injury, she finished sixth individually, and the team finished second behind Team
Tara. She recovered after forgoing triple jumps for about a month. In December 2020, Liu announced the addition of former four-time U.S. men's champion
Jeremy Abbott to her coaching team. In January, Liu competed at the
2021 U.S. Championships in
Las Vegas. Her difficulties at earlier competitions raised doubts about how she would perform at the event, particularly as she would not attempt a triple Axel or a quad in the competition. In the free skate, she doubled one jump and underrotated two others, placing fourth in that segment and dropping to fourth overall, winning the pewter medal. Liu said afterward that she had already resumed training one of her more difficult ultra-c elements, the triple Axel, as of December 2020 and would try to resume training the other difficult elements in preparation for the next season.
Senior career 2018–19 season: Senior debut and first national title Although Liu was too young to compete internationally at the senior or junior level, she qualified to compete in the senior ranks at the
2019 U.S. Championships in Detroit, Michigan. She completed two consecutive triple Axels, including the first one in combination, during her long program and, out of the other six triples she completed (one of which was also in combination), only the flip was downgraded.
2019–20 season: Second national title Liu entered the
2020 U.S. Championships as the favorite to defend her title. placing second with a score of 118.61, behind
Karen Chen. Liu spent June training with Italian coach and ISU technical specialist Lorenzo Magri in
Egna,
Italy to improve her jump technique. She cited the camp presence of elite Italian skaters
Matteo Rizzo,
Daniel Grassl and
Gabriele Frangipani, in contrast with her Oakland training facility that lacked skaters who performed more difficult elements. Magri subsequently was added as a permanent member of her coaching team. Liu made her senior international debut at the
Cranberry Cup, a Senior B competition at the
Skating Club of Boston in
Norwood, Massachusetts, in August 2021. Liu won the competition after coming in first in both the short and the free programs. Liu attempted a triple Axel in the free but fell. Liu won the competition with a total score of 205.74. Making her debut on the
ISU Challenger series, Liu won the
2021 CS Lombardia Trophy by over 32 points, successfully landing a triple Axel and receiving new personal bests. On August 30, 2021, U.S. Figure Skating announced that Liu had been selected to compete at the
2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, with the goal of
qualifying a secured third berth for American women at the
2022 Winter Olympics. Team USA teammate
Karen Chen unofficially earned the third spot at the
2021 World Figure Skating Championships in
Stockholm, and Liu was sent to secure that earned spot. Liu placed first in both segments of the competition to take the gold medal and the first of six available Olympic places. Liu was the overall women's winner on the
2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Liu made her senior
Grand Prix debut at the
2021 Skate Canada International, where she placed fourth in the short program segment. In the free skate, she fell on an underrotated opening triple Axel attempt and underrotated three other jumps; as a result, she placed seventh in that segment and dropped to fifth place overall. At her second assignment, the
2021 NHK Trophy, she finished in fourth place. Two days after her fourth-place finish at the
2021 NHK Trophy, Liu's father decided to fire coaches Phillip DiGuglielmo and
Massimo Scali, so that Liu could move to
Colorado Springs, Colorado, and begin working with
Christy Krall,
Drew Meekins, and
Viktor Pfeifer. At the
2022 U.S. Championships in
Nashville, Liu placed third in the short program, scoring 71.42 points despite falling on her triple Axel attempt. She was forced to withdraw from the event after testing positive for
COVID-19. Despite this, she successfully petitioned to be included on the
2022 U.S. Winter Olympic team, alongside
Mariah Bell and
Karen Chen. Liu was the youngest athlete named to the American Olympic team. Liu was considered the frontrunner female recruitment prospect for China as a part of its
"naturalization project" to recruit overseas athletes in the
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Her father, however, would not be persuaded. Her father denied the recruitment, citing the Chinese government abusing the basic human rights of the Chinese people. In March 2022, Liu's father said he and Liu had been targeted in November 2021 by spies allegedly under direction of the Chinese government, in an operation to collect private information on Chinese political dissidents living in the United States. He said that one spy posed as a
U.S. Olympic Committee official and requested copies of their passports, and added that he received assurances that the
U.S. State Department would take additional precautions to protect Liu at the Games. In the
women's event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Liu placed eighth in the short program after receiving an edge call on her flip and slightly underrotating the second part of her jump combination. She did not attempt a triple Axel in the segment. Notwithstanding those errors, she said she was happy as "all my training paid off because I'm here competing. And the goal of my whole life and my skating career was to compete at the Olympics." She moved up to seventh place in the free skate despite underrotating her triple Axel attempt. She said she was "still in shock at how well I did. I worked a lot on this, and I'm glad I did two clean programs. I'm making a lot of memories here, and they're all really good ones." Liu was subsequently invited to skate at the exhibition gala but had not prepared an exhibition program as she had not anticipated this. A program to "
Loco" by
K-pop girl group
Itzy was choreographed for her on-site by American ice dancer
Jean-Luc Baker, with a dress borrowed from Spanish ice dancer
Olivia Smart. At the
2022 World Championships Liu was considered a podium contender in the much more open contest. She placed fifth in the short program with a clean skate. In the free skate, Liu attempted a triple Axel, landing it with an under rotation. She also underrotated the second part of a jump combination but landed six clean triple jumps and rose to third place, winning the bronze medal. She became the first American woman to medal at the World Championships since
Ashley Wagner in
2016, and only the second since 2006. On April 9, 2022, Liu announced on
Instagram that she was retiring from figure skating, stating that she felt satisfied with her career, had completed her goals, and was "moving on with [her] life". Later going into more detail about her decision, she explained, "I was so into skating that I really didn't do much else. Skating takes up your whole life, almost. I don't know if other people kind of feel the same when they look back at certain parts of their life, but for me, it's definitely a blur, because it kind of meshes together, you know – going to the rink, going home, competing. There were many, many times when I didn't enjoy it." Former coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, added, "She felt she had kept up her side of the bargain with her father and the skating community in general, which was always to go to the Olympics and be the skater everyone wanted her to be. After she achieved those goals, it was time for her to leave the sport on her own terms, on a high." U.S. Figure Skating confirmed Liu's comeback in a press release. Liu later explained her return to figure skating on her terms was due in part to experiencing skiing for the first time, comparing the adrenaline she enjoys receiving between the two sports. Liu decided to return to her former coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and
Massimo Scali. Because she was a student at
UCLA, Liu moved her training base to Lakewood Ice in
Lakewood, California. Since DiGuglielmo and Scali are based in the Bay Area, Liu primarily worked with them remotely. Liu also began working with coaches Amy Evidente and
Ivan Dinev, who work at Lakewood Ice. In October 2024, Liu competed at the
2024 CS Budapest Trophy, her first competition since March 2022. In the short program, she under-rotated the second half of her triple-triple combination but otherwise skated cleanly, scoring 68.83 points and ranking in first place. In the free skate, she under-rotated three jumps but still ranked second in the segment and first overall, winning the gold medal. Later that month, at the
2025 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, Liu won the gold medal, winning both the short and free programs. Liu's victory marked a meteoric comeback after stepping away from the sport in 2022. Liu was selected for Team USA at the
2025 World Team Trophy, where she won the short and free program segments of the women's competition, and Team USA took the gold medal. Liu chose to bring back her short program from the previous season, then, just days before the
Cup of China, announced that she would temporarily re-use her "
MacArthur Park" free program from the previous season while she and Scali reworked her intended
Lady Gaga–themed free program. At the Cup of China, Liu won her first senior Grand Prix medal, taking the silver behind teammate
Amber Glenn. At the U.S. Championships, Liu won the silver medal behind Amber Glenn. On February 6, Liu participated in the
team event, placing second behind
Kaori Sakamoto in the short program. Liu's result combined with those of her teammates secured an Olympic gold medal for Team USA. On February 17, Liu competed in the short program segment of the
women's singles event, earning a personal-best score and placing third behind
Ami Nakai and
Kaori Sakamoto. Two days later, Liu competed in the free skate segment, delivering a clean program aside from receiving an unclear takeoff edge on both of her
triple flip attempts. Her performance won the free skate, produced her personal-best combined total score, and vaulted her to the gold medal. She became the first American woman to medal in figure skating at the Olympics since
Sasha Cohen in
2006 and the first to win gold since
Sarah Hughes in
2002. Liu debuted a new routine for her gala skate two nights later, performing to the
PinkPantheress/
Zara Larsson remix of "
Stateside", receiving praise from Cohen and Hughes, among many others. In early March, Liu withdrew from the
2026 World Figure Skating Championships citing an overly committed schedule and inadequate preparation time following her Olympic gold medals. Second alternate
Sarah Everhardt was named to go in her place, due to reigning U.S national pewter medalist and first alternate
Bradie Tennell declining the offer to replace Liu. Liu finished the season as the No. 1 skater in the
ISU Season's World Ranking. == In media and popular culture ==