Richmond’s U.S. champion figure-skater Alysa Liu, 13: ‘I don’t skate to lose’

When Alysa Liu was 5, her father took her to a Saturday public session at the Oakland Ice Center. Arthur Liu, an attorney, had passed by the rink on the way to his office.

At the time he was thinking about Michelle Kwan, who was 13 when she finished second at the U.S. championships in Detroit. Alisa took to figure skating immediately, and her father got her private lessons.

Eight years later, at age 13, the Richmond skater made history Friday night by becoming the youngest to win a U.S. individual title. Like Kwan’s big breath-through, it happened in Detroit.

“It’s not fully sunk in yet, I am kind of out of it right now,” she said after receiving her medal. “I am not thinking about anything I just did.