Alyssa Liu is Team USA’s last hope for an individual gold medal in figure skating at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. 

Liu, the reigning world champion, was the only one of America’s women’s figure skating stars to put herself in contention for gold after the short program on Tuesday night. 

Liu landed a triple Lutz-triple loop, the hardest combination that any woman attempted, and sat only two points back of leader Ami Nakai and right behind her Japanese teammate Kaori Sakamoto on the leaderboard.

“I am really happy about how I skated,” Liu said after the competition. “And my siblings, my best friends and a ton of my family is out there. And I saw them on the warmup. I also saw them during my program, so, I don’t know. It was a really cool moment, because they never come to watch like this. I’m really glad I did super well. I felt super grounded and I connected with my program on another level.”

Fellow American women’s skater Amber Glenn finished 13th, falling just one spot short of advancing. Glenn was seen walking off the ice in tears. 

ILIA MALININ HINTS AT INTENSE OLYMPIC PRESSURE DAYS AFTER UNEXPECTED RESULT

Isabeau Levito was dinged for under-rotating her triple loop and got leveled down for her step sequence, which is where she tends to pick up points on the competition. It left her in eighth place and a long shot to climb her way onto the podium Thursday night.

Other American skating stars have seen similar disappointing individual results in Milan Cortina after the U.S. took team gold last week.

Skating power couple Madison Chock and Evan Bates were left with silver in ice dance thanks in part to some questionable scoring by a French judge. Meanwhile two-time world champion and Olympic favorite Ilia Malinin shockingly crashed out of the men’s free skate after falling twice during the men’s final on Friday, finishing in eighth place. 

Now, all the pressure is on Liu to ensure Team USA doesn’t have to head home without an individual gold in figure skating. 

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“I don’t think about stuff like that,” Liu said when asked if she can beat the Japanese rivals. “Whether I beat them or not is not my goal. My goal is just to do my programs and share my story and I don’t need to be over or under anyone to do that.”

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PHOENIX — With Tommy Edman opening the season on the injured list, Hyeseong Kim is a prime candidate to see an uptick in playing time at second base for the Dodgers in the coming season. On Tuesday, he further solidified his case.

With teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto throwing a live batting practice session on the backfields at Camelback Ranch, Kim took the World Series MVP on an unexpected ride. On the 16th pitch of Yamamoto’s live batting practice, Kim crushed an opposite-field home run, dazzling the hundreds of Dodgers fans gathered to watch the team ready itself for its first slate of exhibition games that begin Saturday.

Kim’s home run came after watching Yamamoto walk Teoscar Hernández, induce a groundball from Andy Pages, and strike out newcomer Kyle Tucker looking. However, Kim wasn’t finished quite yet.

Yamamoto took a short break, as Shohei Ohtani threw a round of batting practice himself. After Ohtani got his work in, Yamamoto returned to the mound, with Kim waiting for him in the batter’s box.

On the fifth pitch of his second at-bat versus Yamamoto, Kim ripped a base hit to right field. Yamamoto would see eight at bats on the day, logging 30 pitches. He gave up three hits, two of which came from Kim.

Kim said he tweaked his swing last year after coming over from the KBO on a three-year, $12.5-million contract, and is continuing to progress and feel more comfortable with the adjustments he’s made.

“The swing changes we made last year, I would say I felt about 70% comfortable with,” Kim said through an interpreter on Monday. “And then, this offseason and spring training, we were able to recognize some of the other stuff that we needed to work on, so I’m working very hard to make those changes again this year.”

As a rookie, he batted .280 with a .314 on base percentage, .699 OPS, three home runs and 17 RBI across 71 games. He began the season in triple A, before earning a promotion in May. A left shoulder injury would land him on the injured list, limiting his time in his first big league season — though he was healthy enough to be on the team’s postseason roster primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement, playing second base when the Dodgers closed out their Game 7 World Series victory.

Kim also mixed in 17 games in the outfield to provide depth behind Pages last season, and he knew his outfield defense would be an offseason priority.

“I was aware that I needed to work on my center field and outfield defense,” Kim said. “Even without the front office telling me, I knew that it was something I needed to work on, so I was going to work on it regardless.”

As he prepped for the coming season, Kim focused on his nutrition, upping his protein intake and adding some weight.

“I noticed that I lost a little bit of weight throughout the season and I wanted to make sure that I was gaining my weight back before the season started,” Kim said. “So, I made sure to intake my proteins and my meals so that I was able to gain two-three kilograms this offseason.”

With the news that Edman is still on the mend from offseason ankle surgery, Kim stands to benefit in terms of playing time but he says he’s not getting ahead of himself.

“I’m using this time — the offseason and spring training — to just get better,” Kim said. “Whether I play more or not, it doesn’t really affect me much. I’m just trying to get better every day.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called on LA 2028 Olympics chief Casey Wasserman to resign amid the fallout from his name appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files last month.

Bass is the latest official to call out Wasserman, doing so in an interview with CNN. She said she was unable to fire him, but believed he should “step down.”

“The board made a decision,” she said. “I think that decision was unfortunate. I don’t support the decision. I do think that we need to look at the leadership. However, my job as mayor of Los Angeles is to make sure that our city is completely prepared to have the best Olympics that has ever happened in Olympic history.”

The Justice Department’s release of documents related to Epstein showed Wasserman having a flirtatious exchange with close Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Since then, he’s announced he will sell his talent agency as some clients have already announced their departures.

Wasserman’s decision to sell the agency came after the LA28 board’s executive committee met to discuss Wasserman’s appearance in the Epstein files. The committee said it and an outside legal firm conducted a review of Wasserman’s interactions with Epstein and Maxwell with Wasserman’s full cooperation.

LA OLYMPICS CHIEF RESPONDS AFTER EMAILS WITH GHISLAINE MAXWELL EMERGE IN EPSTEIN FILES

“We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,” the committee said in a statement, adding that Wasserman “should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games.”

Wasserman has said previously he flew on a humanitarian mission to Africa on Epstein’s private plane at the invitation of the Clinton Foundation in 2002. He said in a memo to staff that his interactions with Maxwell and Epstein were limited and that he regrets the emails.

“It was years before their criminal conduct came to light, and, in its entirety, consisted of one humanitarian trip to Africa and a handful of emails that I deeply regret sending. And I’m heartbroken that my brief contact with them 23 years ago has caused you, this company, and its clients so much hardship over the past days and weeks,” the memo said.

“I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Wasserman said in a prior statement. “As is well documented, I went on a humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation in 2002 on the Epstein plane. I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”

United States women’s national soccer team legend Abby Wambach announced she was leaving the agency. Chappell Roan also left the agency.

In the email exchanges, Wasserman told Maxwell, “I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?” Another exchange showed Maxwell asking Wasserman whether it would be foggy enough during an upcoming visit “so that you can float naked down the beach and no one can see you unless they are close up?” Wasserman responded, “or something like that.”

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Wasserman has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

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