The world of figure skating has always been defined by a delicate, often precarious balance between artistic grace and grueling athleticism. Every few decades, however, an athlete emerges who doesn’t just participate in that balance, but fundamentally shifts the center of gravity for the entire sport. In 2026, that athlete is Alysa Liu.
While Liu has been a household name in skating circles since she was a pre-teen prodigy, her performance on Thursday at the 2026 Winter Olympics vaulted her into a different stratosphere of fame. But in a strange twist of digital-age fate, her gold-medal victory has triggered a secondary explosion of interest in a moment that happened nearly a year ago: a baseball game in St. Louis that, until this week, was a charming piece of local trivia.
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Before we can understand why a baseball pitch from May 2025 is currently trending on every major social platform, we must acknowledge the catalyst: the “Gold Medal Performance” that redefined women’s figure skating.
On Thursday night, under the bright lights of the international stage, Liu delivered a program that was as much a technical masterclass as it was an emotional journey. Representing the United States as a two-time Olympian, she entered the rink with the weight of a nation’s expectations. By the time her music faded, she had secured the gold, silencing critics and cementing her legacy.
The performance was characterized by her trademark technical precision quadruple jumps that looked effortless and spins so centered they seemed anchored to the earth’s axis. It was this specific ability to rotate at dizzying speeds that became the talking point of the Games, leading fans to dig through the archives to find more evidence of her “superhuman” abilities.
Liu is a prominent member of the “Blade Angels,” an elite group of skaters known for pushing the boundaries of what is physically possible on the ice. The group has become a brand unto itself, synonymous with a new era of skating that prioritizes high-risk, high-reward technical elements.
Following her gold medal win, the “Blade Angels” social media accounts saw a massive surge in traffic. However, it wasn’t the Olympic footage that held the top trending spot. Instead, it was a grainy, high-energy clip from a sunny afternoon in Missouri, recorded in May 2025.
The Pitch Heard ‘Round the World: Busch Stadium, May 2025
Long before she was a 2026 Olympic Champion, Alysa Liu was a rising star invited to partake in one of the most storied traditions in American sports: throwing the ceremonial first pitch.
In May 2025, the St. Louis Cardinals hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a standard mid-season matchup, but the atmosphere changed the moment Liu stepped onto the dirt. Traditionally, first pitches are a gamble; fans expect anything from a professional strike to a comical dirt-ball that doesn’t make it halfway to the plate.
Liu, however, isn’t traditional. Dressed in a custom Cardinals jersey, she didn’t just walk to the mound. She approached the rubber with the focus of a woman about to start a Short Program.
In a move that has now been dubbed the “Dirt Axel,” Liu performed a stunning double axel directly on the infield dirt. For the uninitiated, an axel is the only jump in figure skating that takes off from a forward edge. In the double version, the athlete completes two-and-a-half rotations in the air.
On ice, skaters have the benefit of a low-friction surface and a blade that helps generate lift. On the packed dirt of a pitcher’s mound, the physics are entirely different. There is no glide to help with the take-off and no smooth surface to cushion the landing. Yet, Liu launched, rotated with the speed of a cyclone, and landed with a stability that left the Cardinals’ catcher—and the entire stadium in a state of shock.
Immediately following the landing, without missing a beat, she wound up and delivered a strike to home plate.
