What to Know
When Alysa Liu talked about being denied water during her training, her former coach, Laura Lipetsky, felt compelled to speak up. Alysa, who won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, trained with Lipetsky from age 5 until age 14. She switched coaches in 2020.
During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Alysa revealed how intense training can be (she retired in 2022 at age 16 due to burnout and intense pressure). She described her training as “crazy” because so many things were “monitored,” including her water intake.
She didn’t mention who tried to control her water intake.
Rolling Stone‘s Alex Morris mentioned how Alysa was “monitored” and “controlled” during her training. Alysa confirmed this, saying, “Yes, yeah. It was crazy because they were like, ‘Well, water weight. You shouldn’t drink water. You should gargle it.'”
Alex’s facial expression really said it all: that’s horrifying. Alysa confirmed that it is, indeed, “crazy” and “insane.” During her interview, Alysa didn’t mention the coach who did this by name. However, her childhood coach, Laura Lipetsky, addressed the interview anyway.
Laura took to social media to assert that she never controlled Alysa’s water intake.
In a statement shared on social media, she wrote, “There has been a rumor circulating that I did not allow Alysa to drink water during training. This is simply not true. Athlete health and safety has always been a top priority in my coaching. At no time was Alysa ever prevented from having water or taking care of her physical needs.”
Laura claimed that while training at Alysa’s level does require “discipline, structure, and mutual trust between coach and athlete,” it “has never meant denying something as basic and important as hydration.”
As mentioned, Laura is no longer Alysa’s coach and has not been for several years now. In her post, Laura also shared her well-wishes with Alysa. “I am proud of the work we did together and wish Alysa continued success in her career,” she noted. “I hope we can all focus on supporting athletes and the sport we love rather than spreading misinformation. Thank you to those who continue to support and understand the commitment it takes to train at an elite level.”
Critics felt she was way too focused on her own reputation.
On the figure skating subreddit, Laura’s comments were not super well-received. A lot of people questioned why she even addressed Alysa’s Rolling Stone interview in the first place, given that she wasn’t mentioned in it. And others argued that her statement focused on her own reputation more than it addressed concerns about athletes’ wellbeing and safety.
Some critics online argued that she could’ve just said nothing at all. “In Spanish, we’d say this is shooting yourself in the foot, because Alysa never mentioned her name,” one Redditor wrote. “So why do you think she was talking about you, Laura?”
Someone else said, “sure, alysa didn’t leave the sport while she was training under laura but to take credit for her accomplishments and not her burnout is odd.”
At the end of her statement, Laura wrote about how she has received a lot of “hate” from people who have made assumptions about her relationship with Alysa. She wrote, “Alysa didn’t leave the sport when she was taking from me. So please stop the hate. We had a lot of fun together. We played games on the ice, I made sure she had time to play with her friends on the ice, we laughed a ton, only trained 4 hours during the week, Saturdays were only 45min, Sundays- she went to another rink or train on her own because SHE wanted to.”
She continued, “She was never forced to do anything. She was self driven and loved to skate. I just kept her passion alive. So please stop the hate towards me and get the timelines right. Thank you.”
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