Livia Kaiser and Kimmy Repond finish 21st and 23rd in their Olympic debuts, while American Alysa Liu, who has since retired, secures gold.
19.02.2026, 23:30
SDA
While the top three in the men's short program all failed in the free skate, the top female skaters showed few nerves. Thanks to the best free skate, 20-year-old Alysa Liu improved from 3rd to 1st place. With 226.79 points, she relegated Japan's Kaori Sakamoto (224.90), the 2023 and 2024 world champion, to silver by 1.89 points. Bronze also went to Japan, to 17-year-old Ami Nakai (219.16), who was competing at the Olympic Games for the first time. Nakai was still narrowly in the lead after the first part of the competition.
The triumph of Alysa Liu, whose father is from China, is a special story. After finishing 3rd at the 2022 World Championships, she retired from top-level sport at the age of 16. She was burnt out and no longer enjoyed figure skating. In 2024, she decided to return to the competition stage - with a new attitude. She now puts less pressure on herself and it paid off again: A year ago, she won the World Championship title ahead of Sakamoto, and now the Olympic victory followed.
Kaiser overtakes Repond
Kimmy Repond was 21st before the free skate and Livia Kaiser 23rd. The latter put in a solid performance, but it was a shame that she fell on the last jump, a double Axel. At the beginning, the 21-year-old from Thurgau performed a beautiful triple Lutz/triple toeloop combination. With a total of 171.52 points, Kaiser achieved by far her best competition of the current season - her previous best was 154.04 points.
Repond fell three times in her free skating routine, namely in the first three jumping elements. The 19-year-old from Basel then recovered somewhat. However, only one skater received fewer points than Repond in the free skate. With 100.34 points, she remained well below the freestyle score achieved at the European Championships in January (118.61). The European Championships, which she finished in 7th place, was her first competition of the season. Prior to that, she had been struggling with foot problems for months, but always kept going. It was therefore a success just to take part in the Winter Games at all.
