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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One other enormous title in U.S. determine skating has been sidelined with COVID-19.
Two-time nationwide champion Alysa Liu, who is taken into account one of many favorites to characterize the U.S. on the Beijing Winter Olympics, withdrew from the U.S. Determine Skating Championships after testing constructive for COVID-19 on Friday morning, the nationwide governing physique mentioned.
The information got here lower than 24 hours after Liu, 16, skated within the brief program – placing third behind Mariah Bell and Karen Chen – and hours earlier than she was set to return to the ice for the free skate.
“Issues occur sadly however it’s what it’s,” Liu wrote on Instagram. “I am grateful to U.S. Determine Skating for taking the additional precaution and having the required testing amenities to assist preserve everybody right here as secure as doable. I am feeling good bodily and mentally and I am wishing all the women good luck for tonight!”
Liu’s agent, Yuki Saegusa, instructed USA TODAY Sports activities that the skater is “unhappy” however “has no signs.” She was examined Friday morning as a part of the occasion’s protocols, which require all individuals to offer a destructive PCR check upon arrival and likewise take a second COVID-19 check on their fourth day current.
“She is going to petition to make the Olympic workforce,” Saegusa added.
There are three such slots obtainable in ladies’s determine skating. The workforce can be introduced Saturday afternoon.
Arguably Group USA’s finest hope of profitable an Olympic medal in an occasion that has been dominated by the Russians, Liu is the second star to be pressured out of competitors this week after a constructive COVID-19 check. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier withdrew Wednesday evening after Frazier examined constructive.
Because the favorites of their respective occasions, Liu and the Knierim/Frazier duo nonetheless have sturdy possibilities of making Group USA, regardless of not having the ability to compete this week. However a constructive check at this juncture may nonetheless show problematic, given the rigorous pre-departure protocols that Beijing 2022 organizers have carried out.
In response to the latest “playbook” of COVID-19 countermeasures, all vaccinated athletes touring to Beijing should submit two destructive PCR check outcomes inside 96 hours of their flight to China. However athletes who’ve beforehand had COVID-19 should additionally fill out a medical certificates detailing their an infection and restoration dates and ship it to organizers “not less than eight working days” earlier than departing. And people who have examined constructive inside 30 days should take two extra PCR checks, taken 24 hours aside after restoration.
Liu and Frazier are amongst a number of Group USA hopefuls who may need to clear these extra benchmarks. Skier Mikaela Shiffrin and snowboarder Shaun White have additionally disclosed in current weeks that they examined constructive for COVID-19. The Video games start Feb. 4.
Liu, who gained two U.S. championships earlier than her fifteenth birthday, is broadly thought-about to be one of many nation’s finest up-and-coming skaters. She is without doubt one of the few feminine skater who frequently makes an attempt and lands the notoriously tough triple axel.
On Thursday evening, the California native was one of many closing athletes to compete within the brief program, inserting third with a rating of 71.42. She later spoke to reporters at a information convention, sitting subsequent to Bell and Chen. All three wore masks.
The occasion is being held in entrance of media members and paying spectators at Bridgestone Enviornment, regardless of the rise of COVID-19 circumstances within the Nashville space because of the omicron variant. Latest comparable occasions in different sports activities, just like the U.S. Speedskating trials in Milwaukee, are as a substitute being held behind closed doorways because of COVID-19.
Contributing: Christine Brennan
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: U.S. Figure Skating star Alysa Liu, 16, out of nationals due to COVID
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