Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu had quite the star-studded Monday morning when she crossed paths with actor Daniel Radcliffe backstage at NBC’s Today Show on March 2. The 20-year-old figure skating champion, who just made history at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, was at Studio 1A in New York City to celebrate her remarkable Olympic run when she found herself sharing the same halls as the Harry Potter star.
Liu appeared on Today to discuss becoming the first American woman in 24 years to win the Olympic figure skating singles gold medal, a milestone that has sent shockwaves through the skating world and beyond. She spoke candidly about her philosophy heading into competition, sharing that she approaches even her mistakes with grace. “I really like what I do and I think mistakes are beautiful too because it’s about the journey,” she told Today’s hosts during her segment. She also opened up about her signature hairstyle and the message behind it, her place in an exclusive group chat with fellow Olympic champions, and her perhaps unexpected passion for breakfast cereal.
Radcliffe was also at the Today Show that same morning to promote his new comedy series “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” a slapstick project he is starring in alongside Tracy Morgan. He also discussed his current Broadway run in “Every Brilliant Thing” at the Hudson Theatre, a solo show that has now played in over 80 countries.
With two such distinct but celebrated figures both passing through Studio 1A on the same morning, the backstage meeting between Liu and Radcliffe was the kind of only-in-New-York moment that feels almost too good to script. For fans who have followed Liu’s journey from her early days as a prodigy to her triumphant return to the Olympic podium, seeing her celebrated in the company of one of entertainment’s most recognizable names feels entirely fitting.
Liu’s path to this moment has been nothing short of extraordinary. She arrived at her second Olympics, having missed the podium entirely at the 2022 Beijing Games, with a point to prove and a program to match. She delivered, winning gold in both the team event and the individual women’s singles, skating her free program to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite” in a performance that left little doubt about her place at the top of the sport. Her gold in the individual event was the first for an American woman since 2006.
The Today Show appearance marks just the latest stop on what has become a triumphant victory lap for Liu since returning from Italy. She has been celebrating her wins across multiple platforms, earning a shoutout on Saturday Night Live and headlining the Ice Chips 2026 show in Boston just days after the Games concluded. Her Instagram following, which sat at roughly 332,000 before the Olympics, has grown rapidly as the broader public continues to discover what figure skating fans have known for years.
For followers of Liu’s career who have watched her grow from the youngest U.S. figure skating champion ever into a two-time Olympian and now a gold medalist, March 2, 2026, will be remembered as one more chapter in a story that keeps delivering. A backstage moment with Harry Potter himself feels, in many ways, like the universe acknowledging that Alysa Liu’s magic is very much real.
