Bay Area figure skating fans on Monday were still celebrating East Bay native Alysa Liu's gold medal performance at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston over the weekend.
Liu is being lauded as a comeback kid after fully retiring from skating three years ago before ultimately making the decision to return last year. Now she's the sport's reigning world champion and competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
"It was unbelievable really being there live and to watch our hometown girl Alysa Liu skate so well in both the short and the free skate and end up winning the competition, becoming world champion," 2014 U.S. Olympian Polina Edmunds Best said. "I'm so glad that I was there."
After a meteoric rise as a young teen, Liu famously quit skating at 16 before suddenly returning last year, saying she was back with a new mindset – focusing more on fun and less on medals.
She was all smiles during her masterful floor routine Friday, even cartwheeling to the podium.
"It felt really good," she told NBC's TODAY show. "There's no other way to describe it. I was just really glad I put out a really good free skate. It was better than in practice, so I was feeling it."
Sarah Feldman, the founder and CEO of the Silicon Valley Ice Skating Association, has been following Liu's career for years.
"Showing the world what she can do and being such an amazing example to those of us in the Bay Area, I think we all really look up to her," Feldman said.
In a couple weeks, Liu will take the ice in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Ice Skating and Bowling Center's April gala.
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"To see her go from being this young upstart to now world champion is just such a thrill for the community here," said Jean Teng, vice president of the Skating Club of San Francisco.
