U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu announces retirement at 16

Alysa Liu of the U.S celebrates her bronze medal during the women victory ceremony at the Figure Skating World Championships in Montpellier, south of France, Friday, March 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

World bronze medallist figure skater Alysa Liu announced her retirement at the age of 16 on Saturday, saying she will be moving on with her life after having achieved all her goals in the sport.

A two-time United States national champion, Liu made her Olympic debut in Beijing in February and finished third at the world championships two weeks ago.

"I started skating when I was five so that's about 11 years on the ice and it's been an insane 11 years," Liu wrote on Instagram.

"I honestly never thought I would've accomplished as much as I did... I feel so satisfied with how my skating career has gone. Now that I'm finally done with my goals in skating, I'm going to be moving on with my life.

"This skating thing has taught me a lot more about life than I anticipated. I'm really glad I skated."

Liu won her first U.S. title in 2019 aged 13, breaking Tara Lipinski's record to become the youngest national champion, and repeated the feat in 2020.

She finished as the top American at the Olympics in seventh place, three ahead of Mariah Bell, and followed that up with a podium finish at the world championships, becoming the first American woman to win a world medal since 2016.

(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)