Vincent Zhou, Alysa Liu and Madison Chock win medals at 2022 World Figure Skating Championships
Figure skaters Vincent Zhou and Alysa Liu each took home a bronze medal at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France.
Zhou, who withdrew from the Beijing Winter Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19, recovered and earned a bronze medal in the men’s world championships with a total score of 277.38.
The 21-year-old skater proudly stood next to Japan’s gold medalist Shoma Uno and silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama after previously voicing his mental health struggles resulting from his COVID-19 diagnosis.
“I thought I couldn’t do it,” Zhou stated later in a press conference. “The one thing that got me here was the feeling inside that I didn’t want to live with the regret that I didn’t try. It was the only thing that kept me invested in my journey of getting on the plane and to the rink and taking it day by day.”
“I’m really proud of myself for putting out two strong performances,” Zhou added. “I did some great things out there and there’s a lot for me to learn and grow from. … It’s one of the most meaningful and significant moments of my career.”
Alysa Liu, the 16-year-old two-time national champion, also took home a bronze medal in the women’s championship with a score of 211.19. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won the gold medal while Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx took home the silver medal.
Liu, who placed 7th at the Olympics after having to withdraw from the 2021 National Championships due to her positive COVID test, said after her performance: “I didn’t think I could do better than the Olympics. It’s going to be hard to do it at worlds so soon after. It’s crazy. I trained really hard for the little time I had, and it really paid off, and I’m so happy.”
“I am very speechless,” she added. “I came into this competition not thinking about medals, even during the competition. I just wanted to do good programs for myself. So when I saw that I medaled, I was like, ‘What?!’ I didn’t believe it. I’m still in shock.”
In the Ice Dance competition, Madison Chock and Evan Bates took home their third career World medal, earning the bronze with a total score of 216.83, right behind fellow Team USA members Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.
“That was our best performance of the entire season,” Chock said afterwards. “It’s incredible to finish the season with two amazing performances that we’re super proud of. We couldn’t be happier.”
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