How figure skater Amber Glenn inspired us on and off the ice
In the premiere episode of Milan Magic Videocast, Brian Boitano and Christine Brennan discuss Amber Glenn’s inspiring story.
Sports serious, Milan magic
ST. LOUIS — Amber Glenn won the women’s title at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, holding off reigning world champions Alisa Liu and Isabeau Levitt for her third consecutive national title.
Glenn, who posted a record-breaking score in the short program, performed an incredible free skate on Saturday, snapping a moment of child-on-ice pose as the audience rained down on the ice and applause erupted from the stands.
This performance earned her 150.50 points from the judges, for a total of 233.55 points. With this, Glenn, Ryu, and Levit are almost guaranteed to be included in the Olympic team. Milan-Cortina will be Glenn’s Olympic debut.
“I’m so grateful,” Glenn said afterward. “That was scary and I had to skate after these two amazing women brought the house down, so I’m glad I didn’t let it down too much. I’m still just amazed.”
Glenn, Ryu, and Levit have a strong bond and hugged each other tightly after Glenn’s final score was announced.
“Well, I’m really happy to be able to share the podium with them and get to spend more time with them,” Liu said. “Also, listen, I’m really happy and very proud of them. Listen, this crowd was amazing…I saw everyone’s standing ovation, and that’s what it should be about.”
In pairs, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov won their second consecutive national title with 207.71 points. But the question remains whether the couple will qualify for the Olympics, and it will be interesting to see how things play out as Team USA’s announcement approaches. Ellie Kamm and Danny O’Shea took second place. Katie McBeth and Danielle Parkman took third place.
On Saturday, Ilya Marin will aim for her fourth straight national title, and ice dancing pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates will aim for their seventh overall. U.S. Figure Skating will announce its 2026 Olympic team on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Take a look back at all the scores, results and highlights from Friday’s games.
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The overall rankings for women’s singles are as follows:
- Amber Glenn: 233.55
- Alyssa Liu: 228.91
- Ysabeau Levit: 224.45
- Brady Tennell: 211.48
- Sarah Everhart: 209.47
- Sophie Joline von Velten: 190.80
- Star Andrews: 183.50
- Sherry Cheung: 180.24
- Emilia Nemirovsky: 176.72
- Ellis Lynn Gracie: 174.76
- Logan Higase Chen: 171.09
- Alina Bonillo: 159.99
- Katie Shen: 158.15
- Sonya Hilmer: 155.25
- Brooke’s violence: 152.99
- Josephine Lee: 152.31
- Annabelle Wallace: 144.51
- Erika Machida: 144.26
Amber Glenn won her third consecutive U.S. National Championships with a time of 150.50 points in Friday’s short program.
In the free skate at Nationals, the reigning world champion used a modified Lady Gaga medley, reviving a program figure skating fans have been waiting for.
“I’m excited because it’s a completely new free skate,” Alisa Liu said earlier this week.
She finished second behind Amber Glenn with a score of 148.73.
The song has been in the works for several months for Liu, and was last performed at the 2025 CS Lombardy Trophy in September. It wasn’t the best performance, so she and choreographer Massimo Scali decided it was “not quite right yet” and needed to be reworked. In the meantime, she returned to free skating at the MacArthur Park Suite.
Since then, people have been wondering when Lady Gaga’s free skate will return. At Skate America in November, Liu said the team was still tinkering with the music and choreography, working on it “behind the scenes and during training.”
There have been some changes, especially the song selection. “Bloody Mary” is no longer in the mix, with Liu instead using the songs “Chromatica” and “Paparazzi,” with “Bad Romance” remaining as the closer.
- Amber Glenn: The total segment score was 150.50, the technical component score was 76.31, and the program component score was 74.19.
- Alyssa Liu: The total segment score was 147.80, the technical component score was 75.16, and the program component score was 72.64.
- Ysabeau Levit: The total segment score was 148.73, the technical component score was 75.29, and the program component score was 73.44.
- Brady Tennell: The total segment score was 141.95, the technical component score was 73.65, and the program component score was 68.30.
- Sarah Everhart: The total segment score was 138.37, the technical component score was 72.56, and the program component score was 65.81.
- Sophie Joline von Velten: The total segment score was 130.12, the technical component score was 74.91, and the program component score was 55.21.
- Emilia Nemirovsky: The total segment score was 123.44, the technical component score was 65.93, and the program component score was 57.51.
- Sherry Cheung: The total segment score was 119.25, the technical component score was 60.55, and the program component score was 59.70.
- Star Andrews: Total segment score 117.73, technical component score 55.42, program component score 63.31.
- Logan Higase Chen: The total segment score was 115.87, the technical component score was 60.47, and the program component score was 55.40.
- Ellis Lynn Gracie: The total segment score is 109.52, the technical component score is 52.12, and the program component score is 57.40.
- Katie Shen: The total segment score was 108.65, the technical component score was 58.03, and the program component score was 50.62.
- Brooke’s violence: The total segment score is 102.40, the technical component score is 51.15, and the program component score is 52.25.
- Alina Bonillo: The total segment score was 101.05, the technical component score was 46.31, and the program component score was 54.74.
- Sonya Hilmer: The total segment score is 100.25, the technical component score is 48.97, and the program component score is 52.28.
- Erika Machida: Total segment score 94.85, technical component score 49.31, and program component score 46.54.
- Annabelle Wallace: The total segment score was 91.77, the technical component score was 46.67, and the program component score was 45.10.
- Josephine Lee: The total segment score was 89.52, the technical component score was 39.34, and the program component score was 54.18. Lee was deducted 4 points.
Amber Glenn and Alisa Liu talk about their friendship
USA TODAY Sports’ Jordan Mendoza spoke to Amber Glenn and Alisa Liu about the strong friendship they’ve built. Here’s what they said:
Liu says of Glenn: “She’s a really big sister to me. The idea of us competing against each other is so weird to me. I really look at her as one of my friends and really one of my teammates. I don’t know, but it’s really fun to do things with her.”
Glenn said of Ryu: “It’s great to have people around me who are so positive about skating and about their career. And on the flip side, I have a spare pair of tights in case she tears them up and I don’t have a spare. Or she doesn’t have tights and I’ll have a schedule ready.”
Alisa Liu talks about how she’s dealing with pressure ahead of Milan vs. Cortina
Skating legend Brian Boitano speaks with one of America’s top stars, Alisa Liu, about how she’s handling pressure in the lead-up to the 2026 Olympics.
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- Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov: 207.71
- Ellie Kamm and Danny O’Shea: 197.12
- Katie McBeath and Danielle Parkman: 187.45
- Emily Cheung and Spencer Akira Howe: 186.52
- Audrey Singh and Balazs Nagy: 185.10
- Valentina Plaza and Maximiliano Fernandes:180.80
- Olivia Flores and Luke Wang: 175.86
- Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard: 175.56
- Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewar: 152.86
- Lindsey Fitzpatrick and Keaton Bellinger: 151.93
Here are the pairs’ free skate scores.
- Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov: The total segment score was 132.40, the technical component score was 66.01, and the program component score was 67.39.
- Ellie Kamm and Danny O’Shea: The total segment score was 129.99, the technical component score was 64.51, and the program component score was 66.48.
- Emily Cheung and Spence Akira Howe: The total segment score was 127.23, the technical component score was 62.88, and the program component score was 64.35.
- Katie McBeath and Danielle Parkman: The total segment score was 120.43, the technical component score was 62.59, and the program component score was 60.05.
- Audrey Singh and Balazs Nagy: The total segment score was 117.43, the technical component score was 54.49, and the program component score was 62.94.
- Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandes: The total segment score was 113.77, the technical component score was 57.40, and the program component score was 58.37. Two points were deducted for the fall.
- Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard: The total segment score was 113.22, the technical component score was 57.97, and the program component score was 56.25.
- Olivia Flores and Luke Wang: The total segment score was 112.28, the technical component score was 56.47, and the program component score was 55.81. Flores and Wang noticed a hole in the ice and had to wait for the free skate to begin. They alerted the authorities, and staff came to replenish and ensure the pair had no problems skating. It took less than a minute and was a quick fix. “No big deal,” Wang said after the skate.
- Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewar: The total segment score was 97.77, the technical component score was 46.55, and the program component score was 51.22.
- Linky Fitzpatrick and Jayton Bellinger: The total segment score was 97.37, the technical component score was 49.32, and the program component score was 48.05.
The opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Games will be held on February 6th, and the closing ceremony will be held on February 22nd.
Where will the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships be held?
- date: January 7th to 11th
- position: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Missouri
The 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be held from January 7th to 11th at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Team names will be decided on Sunday, January 11th at 2:00 p.m. Three men’s singles skaters and three women’s singles skaters will be selected, as well as three ice dance team members and two pairs, for a total of 16 skaters. The USFS selection process includes past performance, focusing on an athlete’s body of work over the past two seasons.
Types of jumps in figure skating
- Toe jump: The skater drives the toe pick of his free foot into the ice, launching himself into the air and creating momentum for the jump.
- Then run: The skater takes off backwards and lands on the same back end of the blade.
- Lutz: The skater moving backwards jumps off the back outside edge of the skate, uses the toe pick of the other skate to launch into the air in the opposite direction, and lands on the back outside edge of the picking leg.
- Flip: The skater launches from the inside back edge of one skate and lands on the outside back edge of the other skate.
- Edge jump: The skater steps off from the edge of the skate, not the toe pick.
- Salchow: The skater launches from the inside back edge of one skate and lands on the outside back edge of the other skate.
- accelerator: In the only forward-facing jump, the skater lands on the outside back of the non-takeoff foot while moving backwards. The Axel is the most difficult jump because of the extra half-turn involved in taking off forward and landing backwards.
- loop: The skater jumps off the back outer edge of the skate and lands on the same edge.
