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Post by Admin on Mar 24, 2022 0:59:40 GMT
Liu cried after her clean program and hopes to attempt a triple Axel in the free skate.
Interview: Alysa Liu (USA) | Montpellier 2022 | #WorldFigure
“I don’t know if I looked I sad, maybe I did, but they were happy tears,” said the 16-year-old, who added that she was not distracted by the Justice Department announcing charges this week alleging that Chinese government officials had spied on Liu and her father leading up to the Olympics. Liu’s father was first contacted by the FBI in October, according to The Associated Press.
The third American, Karen Chen, popped a triple loop that gave her trouble at the Olympics and is eighth.
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Post by Admin on Mar 24, 2022 18:28:17 GMT
Americans Mariah Bell and Alysa Liu are third and fifth after the world figure skating championships short program, looking to deliver the first U.S. women’s medal in six years and in the absence of Russian stars. The national champion Bell recorded a personal-best 72.55 points, which is 7.77 behind leader Kaori Sakamoto and 2.45 points behind Belgian Loena Hendrickx going into Friday’s free skate in Montpellier, France, Liu followed with 71.91 points, .17 behind South Korean You Young for fourth place. Americans Mariah Bell and Alysa Liu are third and fifth after the world figure skating championships short program, looking to deliver the first U.S. women’s medal in six years and in the absence of Russian stars. The national champion Bell recorded a personal-best 72.55 points, which is 7.77 behind leader Kaori Sakamoto and 2.45 points behind Belgian Loena Hendrickx going into Friday’s free skate in Montpellier, France, Liu followed with 71.91 points, .17 behind South Korean You Young for fourth place. A non-Russian will win the world title for the first time since 2018 due to that nation’s ban after the invasion of Ukraine. Russians swept the medals at last year’s world championships and finished first, second and fourth at the Olympics last month. Sakamoto, the Olympic bronze medalist, entered as the favorite and delivered a clean short capped by a triple flip-triple toe loop combination. Bell, 10th at the Olympics, and Liu, seventh at the Olympics, are bidding to become the first U.S. woman to win a world medal since Ashley Wagner took silver in 2016, ending a 10-year drought. Bell, after FaceTiming with coach Adam Rippon, who is not on site, opened her short with a triple flip-triple toe combo. Bell then FaceTimed again with Rippon after her skate, for which she upped her previous personal best from the 2019 Worlds. Liu said she had “happy tears” after her clean skate and hopes to attempt a triple Axel in the free skate. The third American, Karen Chen, popped a triple loop that gave her trouble at the Olympics and is eighth.
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Post by Admin on Mar 25, 2022 1:03:37 GMT
Liu’s clean skate brought her best international score since early in the season. When she finished, tears filled her eyes.
“Very happy and relieved,” said Liu, whose seventh at the 2022 Olympics led the U.S. women. “They were happy tears, I think. I don’t know if I looked sad. Maybe I did.”
Liu, 16, has had an Olympic season fraught with more than the usual stress.
A positive Covid test forced her to withdraw from the U.S. Championships after the short program. Last week, as Liu prepared for her senior worlds debut, the U.S. Justice Department charged five men accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government by stalking and harassing Chinese dissidents in the U.S., including Liu’s father, Arthur. The charges said both Arthur and Alysa were targets of a spying operation.
“It wasn’t too distressing for my skating,” she said of the news about the harassment. “It bothered me a little bit, obviously, because I was worried about the safety of everybody in my family. It is what it is.”
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Post by Admin on Mar 25, 2022 21:24:13 GMT
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Post by Admin on Mar 25, 2022 21:53:51 GMT
Small Medals & Press Conference: Women Free Skating | Montpellier 2022 | #WorldFigure 826 watching now Started streaming 84 seconds ago
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