Bay Area's Alysa Liu, 13, wins US women's figure skating title

Fork over the tiara. A new ice queen has risen.

Alysa Liu came to Detroit with history on her mind and did that and more with a riveting, commanding performance Friday night that included two triple axels — one in combination.

The bubbly 13-year-old became the youngest person to win a U.S. figure skating crown while landing triple axels, a jump so daunting only she and three other Americans have ever done it.

The Richmond skating prodigy blew past reigning U.S. champion Bradie Tennell to take the crown and was left sobbing with joy.

The tiny skater who wore a ski parka during warmups won the free skate with an impressive total of 143.62 points. She finished the two-day competition with 217.51 points.

Asked how she felt, Liu told reporters, 'I don't really know yet. I'm just really happy to have won.'

After landing the axels, she said, 'It sunk in right after I did it then it kind of went away.'

Tennell ended with 213.59 points because of two big uncharacteristic errors. The Illinois Olympian stepped out of a triple loop on the back end of a combination. Then Tennell, 20, fell on a triple lutz.

Liu, who skated her 4-plus-minute program to John William's 'Witches of Eastwick,' landed eight triple jumps — 11 jumps overall — in the most demanding technical skate of the night.

Long Beach's Mariah Bell took third with a total of 212.40 points,

Two other teens also gave U.S. skating fans hope Friday. Dallas' Hannah Harrell, 15, earned an overall total of 203.11 points to place fourth. Baltimore's Ting Cui, 16, rebounded from a rough short program to score 194.30 overall and take fifth.

Liu is perhaps America's most promising skater since Michelle Kwan, who at 13 finished second at the 1994 championships in Detroit that are best remembered for the attack on Nancy Kerrigan and the soap-operatic Tonya Harding saga.

The only whack this week has been the sound of skaters hitting the ice when mistiming their jumps.

But not Liu, who acknowledged being nervous in her senior-level debut a year after winning the junior title at age 12.

'Skating against the best skaters in the country, it's good to have some nerves,' her father Arthur Liu said Friday by phone. 'I would be worried if she didn't have any.'

But the stage wasn't overwhelming for the 4-foot-7 girl who looks more suited to picking up the stuffed animals fans throw than an ice queen-in-waiting.

In 1997, Tara Lipinski surprisingly won the U.S. championships in Nashville at age 14 to become the youngest in history to achieve that feat. She defeated the favored Kwan along the way.

Liu was out to better Lipinski. But on Thursday, Tennell had looked every bit as good as she did in San Jose last year to win her first title. The 5-6 skater had an airy, mistake-free short program that scored a U.S. championship record of 76.60 points.

Arthur Liu, a single father with five children, was surprised his oldest child was second.

'It is OK,' he said hours before the free skate. 'She is in a good position — the underdog.'

Liu said he expected two points more than the judges' score of 73.89 points.

'I don't want to sound like I am complaining,' he added. 'Whoever should win, should win.'

Tennell seemingly had a couple of advantages over Liu. As Alysa told this news organization, she is so short it is difficult to showcase the delicate ballerina side of her performances.

The teen also doesn't have Tennell's deep international experience of an Olympics, a World Championships and Grand Prix competitions since 2014.

Liu missed the July 1 age cutoff by five weeks and is not eligible to compete at the Junior World Championships this year. The girl won't be welcomed to perform on the senior international circuit until 2022 — the year of the Beijing Games.

Liu giggled when asked about the misfortune of not getting the chance to compete internationally right away. That's OK, she said. It gives her more time to practice landing quadruple jumps.

'That's what we're working for, before we even compete with the Russians, trying to have the material, the goods, to compete against them,' said Laura Lipetsky, Liu's coach at the Oakland Ice Center.

For all her bubbly personality, Liu is a fierce competitor, who told reporters in Detroit, 'I don't skate to lose.'

Arthur Liu made sure his daughter's routine didn't change Friday when the national attention increased overnight. He and Lipetsky have kept the girl on Pacific time, three hours behind Michigan.

After a practice session Friday, the girl returned to a hotel to eat a late lunch, relax and do schoolwork. Alsya had lamented two weeks ago about being behind with her online coursework.

American figure skating has pinned its hopes on this youngster for good reason. As beautiful as Tennell and Bell skate, neither has the technical resume to compete with the Russian and Japanese skaters who not only float across the ice but do it while executing impressive jumps.

Russian newcomer Sofia Samodurova, 16, didn't try a triple axel in winning the European championship Friday night in Belarus. Neither did Olympic champion Alina Zagitova, another 16-year-old Russian, who was second.

Ashley Wagner's second-place finish at the 2016 World Championships is the only Olympic or world medal a U.S. woman has won since 2006. (Americans have won Olympic medals as part of the team competition introduced at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi).

It would have been a cause for celebration had Liu simply completed one triple axel in Detroit. After the hitting one in the short program with the softest of landings anticipation built for the two she nailed Friday night.

The jump has a forward take-off that adds an extra half rotation in the air. Liu was the only one of the 18 competitors in Detroit attempting the jump named for the Norwegian Axel Paulsen.

Oakland's Lipetsky didn't hesitate when asked if her skater was a breakout star.

'Yes,' the coach said.

Morgan Hill's Anthony Ponomarenko and partner Christina Carreira finished fourth in their senior-level debut after scoring 75.23 points in the rhythm ice dance. The free dance will take place Saturday with world silver medalists Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of Lansing, Michigan, leading with 84.56 points. 2018 Olympians Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who train in Montreal, are second (82.33).

Carreira and Ponomarkeno are two-time junior world medalists with a bright future. He is the son of ice dancing royalty - three-time Olympic medal winners Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, who coach at Solar4America Ice in San Jose.

The couple train in Michigan under Igor Shpilband, who told the skaters 'to be the best you have to be the best in everything,' Ponomarenko said. 'We've been working on our power, our strength as a team and even our emotions as well.'

Danville's Sierra Venetta rebounded from a weak short program to score 105.16 points in the women's free skate to finish 12th.