Alysa Liu of Team United States competes during the Women’s Free Skate at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Feb. 17, 2022, in Beijing, China.
Team USA's youngest figure skater Alysa Liu held the lead heading into the final group of skaters in the women's free skate final Thursday morning after a radiant performance.
Ending with a total score of 208.95, the 16-year-old was the top-scoring figure skater heading into the final group of six skaters and was the highest-scoring U.S. athlete in the event. She scored a 139.45 while performing to "Violin Concerto in D," catapulting her to the top of the leader board.
An emotional Liu skated off the ice beaming as she headed to the kiss and cry to learn her score, remarking how tired she was after her stunning skate. There, she was greeted with a hug from fellow Team USA skater Mariah Bell, who had just finished her own stunning performance minutes earlier.
The 25-year-old Bell, the oldest skater on Team USA, skated to the song, "Hallelujah", scoring a 136.92 in the second half of the singles event. Combined with her 65.38 from the short program, it gave her a total of 202.30, which at the time, put her in first place in the competition before she was surpassed by South Korea's Kim Ye-Lim.
Bell and Liu are guaranteed a top-10 finish in the event with their scores.
Re-watch their full skates here:
There are still a handful of skaters to go, including favorites Kamila Valieva and Anna Shcherbakova from the ROC.
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