The United States has a long history of being competitive in women’s Olympic figure skating, but has been in a medal drought for the event. 

Team USA is searching for its first medal in women’s single figure skating since 2006. That year, Sasha Cohen took second. The last American woman to win a gold medal in singles figure skating was Sarah Hughes, who pulled off that accomplishment in 2002 when the Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City. 

Women’s singles figure skating is split into two mini events. Figure skaters will complete the short program for one score, then the free skate for another, and the final standings will combine the two. 

American figure skater Alysa Liu is looking to become the first figure skater representing the U.S. to earn a medal in the event since 2006. She heads into the free skate with 76.59 points, sitting in third place. Liu currently trails Japan’s Ami Nakai (78.71) and Kaori Sakamoto (77.23). 

Here is more on how Liu can end the USA’s medal drought in women’s figure skating.

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Last American woman to win figure skating medal at Olympics

The last American woman to win a singles figure skating medal at the Olympics was Sasha Cohen. She won the silver medal at the 2006 Olympics, and over the last 20 years, no American woman has registered any medal in the singles figure skating event. 

The singles figure skating event had a similar format to the one it has today. It consisted of the short program and the free skate, with the scores from each event combined for the final standings. 

Cohen crushed the short program, scoring 66.73 in the total segment. She had a .03 point lead on Russia’s Irina Slutskaya and a .71 lead over Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa. Cohen didn’t do quite as well in the free skate, finishing with a 116.3. This was good enough for second place, and she had a two-point lead over Slutskaya in third. The problem is that Arakawa posted a 125.32 and dominated the event. 

Arakawa finished with a total score of 191.34 for the gold medal, while Cohen came in second with a 183.36.  

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USA’s 20-year medal drought timeline

2010

The top American figure skater in 2010 ended up being Mirai Nagasu. She finished with 190.15 total points, which put her in fourth. She finished 12 points shy of Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette for the bronze medal.

Rachael Flatt actually was the best American in the short program. She finished with 64.64 points and in fifth, one spot ahead of Nagasu. Flatt ended up finishing in eighth overall for the event. 

2014

2014 marked the second straight Olympics that an American finished just off the podium. The best American figure skater that year was Gracie Gold, and she finished in fourth place, just 11.20 points behind Italy’s Carolina Kostner. Gold was fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate, the best American competitor that year in both events. 

2018

The United States had three solid competitors in 2018. Bradie Tennell, Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen were all expected to be competitors for the podium. They finished in a group of the final standings, ranked between ninth and 11th.

Ironically, the trio finished ninth to 11th in the short program with Nagasu leading the way. Tennell finished ninth in the free skate, with Chen in 11th and Nagasu in 12th in what ended up being a subpar performance for Team USA. 

2022

This is not the first time Liu has been a high-profile name for the United States in figure skating at the Olympics. She finished in sixth place in 2022. 

Liu was seventh in the short program that year, posting a 69.50. She finished in sixth of the free skate with 139.45 points. That year’s competition was dominated by the ROC. Anna Shcherbakova finished with 255.95 points while Alexandra Trusova had 251.73. To put their dominance in perspective, third place went to Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto who had 233.13 points, 19 more than fourth place. 

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Last American figure skater to win individual gold

The last American figure skater to win an individual gold medal was Nathan Chen. He won the 2022 gold medal for men’s singles figure skating. 

Chen had the top score for the short program, with a 113.97. He then dominated the free skate and had a 218.63, which was a near-17-point margin of victory over second place. Overall, Chen had 332.60 total points, finishing in front of Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama (310.05) and Shoma Uno (293.00).

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History of American figure skating medal winners

Figure skating has been held at the Olympics since 1908, except for the lone absence in 2012. In that time, the United States has won 20 medals. Seven of them have been gold medals, eight were silver and five were bronze. 

Here is a look at who has won a women’s single figure skating gold medal for the U.S., and the year they won it.