Who is Alysa Liu, Team USA’s alt-girl figure skater who’s already won an Olympic gold medal and is competing for more?

Alysa Liu is one of a kind. The 20-year-old figure skater from Clovis, Calif., has emerged as one of Team USA’s standout performers — and at this year’s Winter Olympics, she already has one gold medal to her name.

It seems Liu has always been in a league of her own. At just 13 years old, she became the youngest-ever national champion — breaking Tara Lipinski’s record — and the first U.S. woman to land three triple axels during a performance. She made history again the following year as the first to land a quadruple jump in competition.

Liu has represented her country several times before the 2026 Winter Olympics: She won bronze at the 2022 World Championships and made the Olympic team in 2022, placing sixth in Beijing before retiring at 16. Now, four years later, Liu is out of retirement and skating entirely on her own terms. Set to compete two more times in Milan Cortina, Liu’s already won Olympic gold: She placed second in the women’s short program on Feb. 6, which was pivotal to helping the U.S. win a team gold medal. On Tuesday, she hit the ice for the women’s single skating short program and placed third.

Below, Yahoo rounded up everything to know about the Olympic darling, from her distinctive alt-girl style to her admiration for pop singer Laufey.

She has halo hair and a ‘smiley’ piercing

A quick glance at the horizontal blonde and brunette stripes in her hair, and you know almost immediately that it’s Liu. The figure skater has been DIY-dyeing a blonde ring to the crown of her head every year since 2023, giving it that halo effect.

“I do this every year. I add a stripe, so it’s going to be like this for a year. Then next year, wintertime, like end of December, I do another ring,” Liu told NBC New York. “So this one I did at the end of 2023, then did another one in 2024 and 2025.”

Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Liu enlisted St. Louis-based hairstylist Kelsey Miller to freshen up her locks and create a stronger contrast between the blonde and brunette. The process took about five hours, according to Miller.

“Your hair is truly your identity,” Miller told Allure. “It can help you with your confidence. … I love to see that this is brought into the sports world because I feel like [the confidence that comes from it] only makes her a better athlete.”

Beyond her distinctive halo hair, Liu also has a distinctive piercing. That bit of metal you glimpse when she grins on the ice? That’s her “smiley.” Referred to casually as a “smiley” piercing, Liu has her frenulum pierced, which is the thin strip of tissue that connects the upper lip to the upper gum. The subtle modification, which Liu actually did herself, is another defining feature of her alt-girl look.

She’s beloved for being herself

Liu’s self-assurance and deviation from the status quo has garnered praise from viewers at home. Her halo hair, “smiley” piercing and unique approach to figure skating costumes are welcomed departures for fans of the sport.

“Alysa Liu’s alternative style heals the kid in me that was told to be a ‘beautiful swan’ growing up,” one Reddit user wrote. “I grew up in a skating environment and world where figure skaters had to be just ‘pretty’ ‘elegant’ ‘pristine.’ … It’s just awesome to me to have more representation of skaters that love the sport, and flaunt their own taste in style.”

Another Reddit user added, “I think the biggest thing is, Alysa is a person who happens to be a competitive skater, not the other way around. She’s not letting preconceived ideas of what a skater looks like stop her from expressing herself because she knows how much more there is to life outside of skating now.”

She set her comeback performance to a Laufey song

Liu put on a show-stopping performance during the figure skating team event in her 2026 Winter Olympics debut on Friday. The roars of applause from her teammates and fans at the Milano Ice Skating Arena were immediate, as the 20-year-old, who stepped out in a moody, cream-and-gray gradient dress, launched into her routine.

In the routine, set to “Promise” by Grammy-winning jazz-pop singer Laufey, Liu glided gracefully across the ice, landing several technically challenging moves, including a double axel, a triple Lutz and a triple loop, which earned her second overall. Liu’s song selection is also believed by fans to reflect her emotional return to the sport, and the complexities that came with making that decision.

Liu, who has previously performed to Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” and “Bad Romance,” has also taken to helping design her own dresses in collaboration with renowned figure-skating designers like Lisa McKinnon, who brought her team event garment to life.

“I’m so into fashion, and I love being able to control little things,” Liu told Elle in a story published last week. “Even my training outfits, I get to choose now. Before, I didn’t. Isn’t that crazy? But now I do.”

She advocates for immigrant rights

Liu spoke out about the current political climate in the U.S. and the need to acknowledge the “faults in our own government” ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“There’s so many protests that are going on and I’ve attended. Coming from a family of immigrants, I think immigrants deserve rights,” she told ABC last October. “I think it’s a little silly, especially in America.”

She hit a personal best during the women’s short program

After helping Team USA win gold during the women’s short program team event on Feb. 6, Liu performed once more on Tuesday during the women’s single skating short program. Skating to her fan-favorite track, “Promise” by Laufey, the young athlete put on yet another stunning display, receiving a personal best score of 76.59 to place third.

“I’m really confident in myself,” Liu told NBC after her performance on Tuesday. “Even if I mess up and fall, that’s totally OK too. I’m fine with any outcome, as long as I’m out there. And I am. There’s nothing to lose.”

She’ll be returning to the ice for the women’s single skating free skate at 1 p.m. ET on Feb. 19.

Coverage for the 2026 Winter Olympics airs live on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and NBC.com.