Alysa Liu sees 5 million follower Instagram explosion after Winter Olympics

American figure skater Alysa Liu was one of the more memorable athletes to compete at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.

The California native, who retired from competitive skating at 16 only to unretire at 18, win her first World Championship at 19 and her first Olympic medal at 20, put on a performance for the ages in the singles free skate final in Italy to take home her second Olympic gold and first singles gold of her career.

She went viral immediately after her performance, and she’s not one of the most popular athletes on the planet as evidenced by some pretty big news that was revealed on Tuesday.

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“Alysa Liu has gained 5 MILLION followers after winning two gold medals at the Winter Olympics 🤯🥇,” Bleacher Report posted on X.

Liu saw the largest increase in social media followers of any Olympic athlete — she had a 357% increase through Feb. 17, and an additional 900% increase after winning gold, according to social media management platform Metricool.

For comparison, American snowboarder Chloe Kim had a 300% increase in social media followers, while American figure skater Ilia Malinin had a 232.4% increase, and American figure skating couple Madison Chock and Evan Bates had a 125.6% and 117.2% increase, respectively.

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As for what the future holds for Liu, she admitted shortly after her gold-medal ceremony that she’s going to be sticking around the sport for a while. Fans will likely see her competing in the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.

“Yeah, I have no plans to leave yet,” Liu told NBC. “I can’t imagine not skating next year. … Definitely [don’t think of figure skating as] a job. I just feel so lucky I get to do this. I love being an athlete. It’s the coolest thing in the world.”

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