- Sarah Hughes won Olympic gold in Salt Lake City in 2002, three years after placing fourth at the U.S. Championships there. It took 24 years for another American woman to win, and the U.S. Championships return to Utah in January without her.
- This story sits inside Utah's olympic sports lane and connects to the larger statewide sports picture.
- The story is backed by 15 sources and a visible last-verified date.
October 25, 2026
October 25, 2026
4 min / 986 words
15 official links
The last time the U.S. Figure Skating Championships came to Utah, in February 1999, a teenager named Sarah Hughes finished fourth in Salt Lake City. Three years later she came back to the same city and won the Olympic title. No American woman won it again for 24 years, until Alysa Liu in February 2026. When the national championships return to Utah in January 2027, the women's title will be decided at the Maverik Center, the arena set to host Olympic figure skating in 2034, and the Olympic champion will not be in it.
Salt Lake City saw Sarah Hughes coming in 1999
The 1999 U.S. Championships were held in Salt Lake City in February 1999. U.S. Figure Skating's Skating magazine published the results: Michelle Kwan won the ladies' title, first in both the short program and the free skate, and Hughes, skating for The Skating Club of New York, placed fourth after finishing second in the short program and fifth in the free skate. The same week, Sasha Cohen won the silver medal in junior ladies.
Three of the top four finishers at the 2002 Olympics, Hughes, Kwan and Cohen, competed in Salt Lake City that week.
How did Sarah Hughes win Olympic gold in Salt Lake City?
The women's event at the 2002 Winter Games ran February 19 to 21 at the Salt Lake Ice Center, the Games name for the Delta Center downtown. Kwan led after the short program. Hughes, 16, was fourth, a position from which no one had ever gone on to win Olympic gold, according to the International Olympic Committee's account.
On February 21 she won the free skate. Under the scoring of the time, the short program placement counted half and the free skate counted in full, with the free skate as the tie-breaker, according to Olympedia. Hughes and Irina Slutskaya of Russia finished level on 3.0, and the free skate decided it: gold for Hughes by a 5-4 split of the judges, the Deseret News reported. Slutskaya took silver and Kwan bronze, and Cohen finished fourth.
"Roses rained from the heights of the Salt Lake Ice Center," the Deseret News wrote.
What happened between 2002 and 2026?
The wait was long. Olympedia's results list one American women's singles medal between Hughes's gold and 2026: Cohen's silver in 2006. The United States won no women's singles medal in 2010, 2014, 2018 or 2022.
How did Alysa Liu end the 24-year wait?
Liu's route was not a straight line. She retired at 16 after winning a world bronze medal in 2022, NBC Sports reported, then came back. In March 2025 she won the world title in Boston with 222.97 points, ahead of Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, the first American woman to win it since Kimmie Meissner in 2006.
On February 19, 2026, at the Milan Cortina Games, she climbed from third place after the short program to first with a career-best 226.79 points, the Associated Press reported. Sakamoto took silver with 224.90 and Ami Nakai bronze with 219.16. It was the first Olympic women's figure skating gold for an American in 24 years, since Hughes in Salt Lake City. Liu also won gold in the team event.
She withdrew from the 2026 World Championships in Prague in March, the AP reported, and she skated at the Maverik Center on the Stifel Stars on Ice tour, ABC4 reported. ABC4 wrote that she was not sure she would compete at the 2034 Games in Salt Lake City.
Will Alysa Liu skate at the 2027 U.S. Championships in Utah?
No. On August 25, 2026, Liu announced that she is taking the 2026-27 season off from competition, NBC Sports and Olympics.com reported. She plans to return for the 2027-28 season. "I always want to challenge myself in new ways," she wrote.
Who is the U.S. women's champion going into January?
Amber Glenn. At the 2026 U.S. Championships in St. Louis, Glenn won her third consecutive national title with 233.55 points, the first woman to do that since Michelle Kwan, according to U.S. Figure Skating. Liu finished second with 228.91 and Isabeau Levito third with 224.45. U.S. Figure Skating has not published the 2027 entry list.
Kwan won her 1999 title in Salt Lake City. If Glenn enters in January, she will chase a fourth straight title in the same valley.
When is the women's free skate at the 2027 U.S. Championships?
Friday, January 8, 2027, at the Maverik Center in West Valley City. U.S. Figure Skating's event page splits the women's free skate across two sessions shared with the men's short program: the first group at 2 p.m. and the final two groups and the medal ceremony at 5:10 p.m. Mountain Time. The October 1 ticket release lists that medal session at 6:15 p.m., so check the official schedule before buying.
The 2027 U.S. Figure Skating Championships guide covers the full schedule, TRAX to Decker Lake Station, the arena's bag rules and tickets. The history of the Maverik Center explains why 2002 skating was downtown and 2034 skating will be in West Valley City. More of the women's sports Beehive Athletes covers is on the Utah women's sports page, and all of its skating coverage is on the Utah figure skating page.
Key facts:
- 1999 U.S. Championships, Salt Lake City: Michelle Kwan won; Sarah Hughes fourth; Sasha Cohen junior silver
- 2002 Olympics, Salt Lake Ice Center: Hughes, 16, won from fourth after the short program on February 21, 2002; Slutskaya silver, Kwan bronze
- 2002-2026: one U.S. women's Olympic singles medal, Cohen's 2006 silver
- 2026 Olympics: Alysa Liu gold with 226.79 points on February 19, 2026, the first for an American woman in 24 years
- 2026-27: Liu is taking the season off and plans to return in 2027-28
- Reigning U.S. champion: Amber Glenn, three straight titles through 2026, the first woman since Kwan to do it
- Next: women's free skate, Friday, January 8, 2027, Maverik Center