Mariah Bell, Karen Chen and Alysa Liu selected for U.S. Olympic figure skating team

Irvine-based Mariah Bell, who is the oldest U.S. women’s figure skating champion in nearly a century at age 25, was nominated to the U.S. team for the Winter Olympics next month in Beijing.

Bell, who trains at Great Park Ice, will be joined by Karen Chen, who was the 2017 champion and runner-up at this year’s national championship, and Alysa Liu, who won the U.S. title in 2019 and 2020 as a young teenager.

Liu, 16, stood third after the short program, the first phase of the women’s competition, but she had to withdraw after testing positive for the coronavirus. Her jumping ability and international results apparently were enough to persuade members of U.S. Figure Skating’s selection committee to include her on the Beijing team.

Lindsay Thorngren, Amber Glenn and Gabriella Izzo were named as the first, second and third alternates, respectively. The selection committee, which took into account skaters’ national and international performances over the past year, left out Bradie Tennell, who won the U.S. women’s title in 2021 but missed this year’s competition because of a chronic foot injury.

“I’m just so grateful. It’s something that I’ve been working for for a very long time and I’m so excited and so honored and it still doesn’t feel real,” Bell said during a TV interview on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

“Age is literally a number. It means nothing. And if you have a dream there is no limit on the time you have to achieve that dream, for sure.”

Mariah Bell competes on her way to winning gold at the U.S. figure skating championships on Friday.

(Mark Zaleski / Associated Press)

Chen is the only one of the three with Olympic experience, having finished 10th at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. That result was disappointing enough for her to have considered retiring from competition, but her decision to continue was rewarded Saturday.

“It honestly means so, so much, especially considering after 2018 I did think about stepping away from the sport but I’m really happy that I didn’t,” she said. “I kept chasing my dreams and be as fearless and courageous as possible and so here I am today and I’m super, super happy.”

Liu did not attend the team announcement because she is isolating in the wake of her positive test.