Alysa Liu will miss nationwide championships after coronavirus check constructive

NASHVILLE – Alysa Liu, one of many favorites to make the US Olympic determine skating staff for subsequent month’s Beijing Winter Video games, examined constructive for the coronavirus on Friday and retired from the US nationwide championships.

Liu, 16, completed third within the brief program on the Nationwide Championships on Thursday and hoped {that a} robust efficiency in Friday’s freestyle would enhance her probabilities for the Olympic staff.

Your destiny now rests within the arms of the US determine skating officers, who will announce the US girls’s staff’s journey to Beijing on Saturday. They may choose the three single feminine skaters primarily based on their work over the previous 12 months – not simply how they carry out within the nationwide championships.

That is nice information for Liu. She is without doubt one of the greatest positioned People and landed within the high 5 of her two Grand Prix occasions this season.

Afterward Friday, one other contender for the Olympic staff, Amber Glenn, examined constructive and withdrew from the nationwide staff, taking one final probability to impress the Olympic choice committee. She stated she had signs.

On Instagram, Liu – the senior nationwide champion in 2019 and 2020 – wrote that she was absolutely vaccinated, wore an N95 masks and examined destructive twice earlier than arriving on the nationals.

“Sadly, one thing occurs, however it’s,” she wrote of her constructive check, including that she felt good bodily and mentally. She did not point out if she had any signs of the virus.

Liu was the second excessive profile American skater to check constructive at Nationals. Brandon Frazier, who’s reigning nationwide pairs champion with Alexa Knierim, retired from nationwide championships on Wednesday after feeling sick after which testing constructive.

“Whereas my signs are fairly dangerous, nothing is worse than not having the ability to compete,” Frazier stated on social media.

Knierim wrote: “We have now taken all essential precautions within the run-up to those championships together with, however not restricted to, social distancing, the usage of KN95 masks and the cancellation of all vacation gatherings in addition to personal classes on the rink. It’s devastating for us to see what occurred course of.”

After testing constructive on Friday morning, Glenn, who completed 14th within the brief program and was among the many high 4 girls for the Olympic staff, wrote on social media that she was heartbroken to retire from the nationwide staff after she had felt sick: “Within the final 48 hours” I used to be steadily getting slower, weak and sluggish … I assumed it was the same old competitors nerves and perhaps allergy symptoms, however after yesterday’s efficiency and the final two days of coaching that I used to be I did not really feel that manner anymore, I had a sinking feeling, it was one thing extra. ”

And in part of her Instagram submit that was later deleted, she stated, “To know that I’ve Covid is horrible.”

US determine skating will announce america’s two Olympic doubles groups on Sunday, and Frazier and Knierim stated they’ve utilized to be chosen for the Beijing Video games.