Earlier than profitable Olympic gold, Alysa Liu was simply an East Bay child

The Wide Shot celebrates the work of Bay Area photographers, showcasing their newest tasks and behind-the-scenes tales.

It wasn’t controversy, tragedy, or ego that captured the world’s hearts as Alysa Liu received the gold medal this week in girls’s determine skating. It was her subversive, humble, uniquely Gen-Z method to determine skating that had everybody of their emotions as they watched her gently alight on the ice like a bleached, zebra-printed cloud of magnificence. 

But Liu’s journey to the rostrum in Milan was something however assured. Four years earlier than making historical past as the primary American girl to convey residence the gold medal in determine skating in 24 years, Liu introduced her retirement at age 16, stating on Instagram that she was “finally done with her goals” within the sport.

For photojournalist and East Bay native Ryan Young (opens in new tab), the final week was the end result of a journey that began greater than a decade in the past, when The New York Times assigned him to shoot a promising athlete working towards on the Oakland Ice Center.

Young captured two pivotal moments in Liu’s profession, in 2018, when, on the heels of turning into the youngest girl to land a triple axel in worldwide competitors, she was blossoming right into a pressure to be reckoned with, and in 2024, on the Yerba Buena Ice Skating & Bowling Center, shortly after she introduced her return to determine skating.

Liu has been described as “the carefree Californian” for her oft-quoted indifference to bringing residence medals. But Young’s photographs present not a carefree athlete however a shark in a feeding machine. 

Young has taken portraits of Steph Curry, Gavin Newsom, Bill Gates, Tony Hawk, Brock Purdy, and numerous different notables and is probably finest identified for his skateboarding images. But for him, Liu as a younger 13-year-old was “the most powerful display of movement I’ve seen.”

When Young requested to shoot her once more in August 2024 — 5 months after she introduced her comeback — Liu responded, referring to their first shoot collectively, “Omg yeaaaa!! Still some of the coolest shots of me on the ice to this day fs.”

We spoke to him about what it was wish to shoot her as a rising star, to comply with her by way of an early retirement, and to witness her historic return. 

This interview has been edited for size and readability.

How did you first come to {photograph} Liu?

I used to be launched to Alysa on an task for The New York Times. They do a children part, and she or he was the featured athlete. She was getting plenty of consideration.

I had by no means shot determine skating earlier than, so it was undoubtedly an attention-grabbing course of. I’ve photographed plenty of totally different athletes, however going there and seeing her in motion was simply gorgeous.

When she got here again into determine skating, and it was simply me and her and my two assistants on the ice, and she or he was simply so affected person with us as I fumbled round making an attempt to mild determine skating on the ice and never slip and damage myself.

What was it like working along with her?

She was simply so giddy and excited to do no matter I requested her to do on the ice. I bear in mind in our first shoot, she was performing the Biellmann spin, the place she grabs the skate from behind after which pulls it over her head.

She was doing that time and again as I fumbled round making an attempt to determine how to seize it. And I apologized, like, “Hey, I’m sorry if I’m making you dizzy.” And she checked out me, not even making an attempt to be sarcastic, and stated, “Oh, I don’t get dizzy.” 

I’ve by no means heard anyone so confidently say they don’t get dizzy. But she was simply going again and again and over for minutes on finish, spinning unfazed.

And it was simply unimaginable — just a little powerhouse like that, with zero ego. She simply seemed very assured in her physique and knew precisely what she may and couldn’t do. And it appeared like there was no finish to her rigor.

She’d say, “What do you need me to do? I will do it.” It was very attention-grabbing to see that out of just a little 13-year-old particular person, as a result of I’ve photographed so many alternative athletes, from skate boarders to basketball gamers, soccer gamers, however watching that sort of routine, it’s simply totally different.

When you met along with her once more in 2024, may you sense one thing had modified?

Definitely. It seemed like she was studying tips on how to skate once more. She needed to seek for her ice skates and ask her dad the place they had been as a result of she didn’t know what occurred to them.

It was a really early session, and shortly after she went to the determine skating championships in Wichita, Kansas. She ended up profitable that. And that’s what centered her — it reminded her that she’s nonetheless her, and she will actually do that on the highest of ranges.

How did you understand her comeback? 

It’s not like driving a motorbike. I wouldn’t say she was cynical, however she was fairly over determine skating. And it was actually refreshing to see somebody simply come again and choose it up and fall in love with one thing that they’d fallen out of affection with. It’s simply a kind of traditional tales that I received to see firsthand. 

Being round skate boarders, I see it on a regular basis, the place you could have this dude who was actually good in highschool, and so they don’t get sponsors and so they get fairly jaded, and so they’re simply over skating.

They don’t even need to contact it anymore, and so they simply stroll away from it and by no means even choose it up once more. So to see any individual return to their sport and fall again in love with it — she didn’t have to win gold for folks to care. She appeared blissful, and I’m glad that she naturally discovered it on her personal to come back again to the ice.