American Amber Glenn won the women’s singles competition at figure skating’s Grand Prix Final on Saturday, ending a 14-year drought for U.S. women in the three biggest worldwide competitions.
Glenn led the field in Grenoble, France, after Thursday’s short program, thanks in part to being the only competitor to land a triple Axel — the jump that’s helped revitalize her career — and then landed another to start Saturday’s free skate, opening a solid routine to hold off Japan’s Mone Chiba for gold.
The Grand Prix Final is the culmination of figure skating’s annual Grand Prix series, inviting only the top six skaters or pairs in each discipline. It’s among the most prestigious worldwide titles in the sport, after the Olympics and the World Championships.
No American woman had won the singles gold at any of them since 2010, when Alissa Czisny won the Grand Prix Final. Sarah Hughes is the last American women’s singles Olympic champion, winning in Salt Lake City in 2002. The last American world champion in the event was Kimmie Meissner in 2006. Polina Edmunds was the last U.S. winner of the Four Continents Championships — which excludes Europe — in 2015.
Going against five Japanese skaters — including Kaori Sakamoto, three-time defending world champion and defending Grand Prix Final champion — Glenn struggled through Thursday’s short program, failing to land her triple Axel cleanly and injuring her back. Still, she finished in the lead, ahead of second-place Chiba by less than a point.
Amber Glenn leads the field after the #GPFigure Final women’s short program. 🫡
She could become the first U.S. woman to win the Grand Prix Final in 14 years. pic.twitter.com/k8UqISghXX
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) December 5, 2024
Then Saturday, Chiba posted a strong 139.52 in the free skate to make things difficult for Glenn, who responded with a 142.03. Glenn won gold with a 212.07 overall score. Chiba took silver with a 208.85. Sakamoto was third at 201.13.
As Glenn’s score flashed across the screen, Sakamoto, Chiba and fellow Japanese skater Wakaba Higuchi — waiting to the side as the others in potential medal position — all smiled and flashed No. 1 signs while mimicking Glenn’s finish position from her free skate.
At 25, Glenn is the oldest Grand Prix Final winner since Russia’s Irina Slutskaya won her fourth and final title in December 2004 at 26. It sets Glenn up as a top contender at worlds, which will be in Boston from March 23-30 — less than a year out to the 2026 Olympics.
It’s been an unorthodox rise for Glenn, who in 2014 was the U.S. national junior champion at 14 years old and looked like the future of the U.S. team. But she stepped away from the sport in 2015 for mental health reasons and, when she returned, struggled to find the same lofty form at the senior level.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and disrupted competitions around the world, Glenn resolved to add the triple Axel to her repertoire. The Axel is the sport’s most difficult jump, beginning with a forward takeoff and requiring an extra half-rotation. Before Glenn, only five other American women had landed the triple in competition.
Glenn landed it successfully for the first time late in 2023, and the move has helped her surge to the top of women’s figure skating. She won the 2024 U.S. Championships, landing a triple Axel in an otherwise error-prone free skate and then holding on to beat defending American champion Isabeau Levito, who fell three times. Glenn landed the jump twice in Grand Prix events this season to help win those and qualify for this weekend’s final.
In the eight seasons since 2014 when both tournaments have been held (COVID canceled one or the other for three straight years from 2020 to 2022), five of the eight Grand Prix Final winners have gone on to win gold at worlds.
It all puts Glenn in strong position to make her first Olympic team, along with Levito, the silver medalist at last year’s World Championships who withdrew from a Grand Prix event in November and was not eligible for this weekend’s final.
Glenn was selected as an alternate for the 2022 Games after withdrawing from the U.S. Championships that year after contracting COVID-19.
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(Photo of Amber Glenn during Saturday’s free skate: Laurent Cipriani / AP)
