Two-time defending champion Amber Glenn on Wednesday night set the record for a women’s short program at the US Figure Skating Championships, giving her a narrow lead over world champion Alysa Liu heading into the free skate.
Liu had broken the record mere minutes earlier with a score of 81.11 points, earning a standing ovation from a crowd packed into the home of the NHL’s St Louis Blues.
Glenn took the ice and was flawless from an opening triple axel to a finishing combination spin, earning 83.05 points, a hug from coach Damon Allen and a standing ovation of her own.
Photo: AFP
“I knew that I came here to do my job, and I was happy to see that scores were up, scores were good and I was able to keep them going up,” Glenn said. “I felt a responsibility to keep it going better and better and better.”
Isabeau Levito was third with 75.72 points on the opening night of the national championships, which are the last opportunity for skaters to impress the US Figure Skating officials who would decide the team for the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday.
Twenty-six-year-old Glenn, who four years ago missed nationals and a shot at the Beijing Games because of COVID-19, channeled her trademark power and emotion into a program set to Like A Prayer by Madonna. She followed her axel with a triple flip-triple toe loop, and her triple loop merely catapulted her into a rollicking finish to an energetic program.
Liu is among a few US hopefuls trying to deliver women’s Olympic gold for the first time since Sarah Hughes in 2002.
Earlier in the night, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov began defense of their US pairs title with a near-perfect short program, leaving them nearly eight points clear of the field as they hold out hope of making the US team for the Winter Games.
While the 28-year-old Mitrofanov was born in the US, his 26-year-old partner was born in Finland. Despite the couple having wed in early 2024, and Efimova obtaining a green card that summer, she is still waiting for the US to decide whether to waive a three-year waiting period to become a citizen — a requirement to represent a nation in the Olympics.
Time is running out before US Figure Skating must announce its Olympic team this weekend.
“We’re hoping maybe a last-minute miracle might happen,” Mitrofanov said.
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