Alysa Liu water restriction claim raises questions as former coach Laura Lipetsky firmly denies claim after Rolling Stone interview

Alysa Liu, the American figure skating star who later won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, is again in the spotlight after a training claim from her past resurfaced. During a recent interview, Liu said that when she was younger, she was sometimes told not to drink water during practice because of concerns about “water weight.” The comment quickly spread online and sparked debate among skating fans. Soon after, Liu’s former coach, Laura Lipetsky, spoke out to respond to the claim.In a statement shared on social media on March 13, Lipetsky strongly denied that she ever stopped Liu from drinking water during training sessions. She said the rumor does not reflect what actually happened during their years working together. The conversation began after Liu spoke about her early training experience in an interview published on March 7 by Rolling Stone. Her comments reopened discussion about the pressure young athletes sometimes face in competitive figure skating.Laura Lipetsky said clearly that the story being shared online is not accurate. She explained that the health and safety of athletes has always been important in her coaching.“There has been a rumor circulating that I did not allow Alysa to drink water during training. This is simply not true,” Lipetsky wrote on social media. “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.”She also explained that high level training does require discipline and structure, but that basic needs like hydration were never restricted.“Training at a high level requires discipline, structure, and mutual trust between coach and athlete. But that has never meant denying something as basic and important as hydration,” Lipetsky said.Alysa Liu began training with Lipetsky when she was just five years old as she started learning competitive figure skating. The two worked together for many years before ending their coaching partnership in 2020.Looking back on their time together, Lipetsky said their training environment was supportive and even playful at times.“We had a lot of fun together,” Lipetsky wrote. “We played games on the ice. I made sure she had time to play with her friends on the ice. We laughed a lot. We trained four hours during the week. Saturdays were only 45 minutes. On Sundays she went to another rink or trained on her own because she wanted to.”Lipetsky also said Liu was always motivated on her own.“She was never forced to do anything. She was self driven and loved to skate,” she added.Meanwhile, Liu’s comments in the Rolling Stone interview described how strict rules about weight sometimes came up during training when she was young.“It was crazy,” Liu said. “They were like, ‘Oh, water weight. You shouldn’t drink water. You should gargle it.’ Crazy. It’s insane.”The pressure of competitive skating played a role in Liu stepping away from the sport in April 2022 when she was only 16. She shared the decision through an Instagram post without telling many people first.“I didn’t tell anybody because I knew that I was going to get some pushback,” Liu told Rolling Stone. “So I kept it a secret and then I posted about it. That’s how everybody found out.”Two years later, Liu surprised many fans when she returned to the sport in March 2024. Her comeback eventually led to a historic moment when she captured Olympic gold in 2026.Lipetsky ended her message by asking people not to spread hate online and to focus on supporting athletes.“I just kept her passion alive,” she wrote. “So please stop the hate towards me and get the timelines right. Thank you.”