BOSTON (AP) — Two-time defending U.S. champion Amber Glenn survived the interminable wait to get back on the ice Friday night after she had fallen in her short program at the figure skating world championships.
Then came an even more painful turn in the new leader’s chair, which was introduced this year to bring athletes closer to the fans, and where Glenn sat bathed in bright lights until someone surpassed her score. At one point, the camera cut to Glenn and she was shown on the TD Garden scoreboards and TV monitors while she distractedly scrolled through her phone.
“I don’t love it,” she told reporters with a wince. “Awkward and stressful.”
She may have skated to “I Will Find You” by Audiomachine.
But her personal mantra is more like “The Waiting is the Hardest Part.”
“I kept thinking, ‘OK, 10 minutes and it’s over’ — you know, counting down until I was done,” Glenn said. “Just because it’s been such a tough two months of training since nationals.”
Not long after Glenn finished, Alysa Liu became the first American women’s figure skating world champion since Kimmie Meissner in 2006, dethroning three-time defending champion Kaori Sakamoto on Friday with a free skate that earned her the biggest of the standing ovations of the night for a U.S. contingent that placed three skaters in the top five.
Mone Chiba of Japan earned bronze, American Isabeau Levito was fourth and Glenn came in fifth — a disappointing finish for one of the favorites heading into the event, but quite a climb from ninth place after falling on her opening triple axel Wednesday.
The 25-year-old from Plano, Texas, who was unbeaten heading into worlds, landed that same triple axel in her free skate. She made a minor mistake on her triple lutz-double toe combination, and had to change up a couple of jumps for simpler options in the middle of the program, but she still posted a solid free-skate score of 138.00 points.
“Of course, I’m upset about making a mistake on my easiest jump,” she said. “But I’m proud of myself for fighting.”
Glenn received a huge ovation from the American crowd – some of them waving rainbow flags for the outspoken bisexual and pansexual skater – and a torrent of stuffed animals poured onto the ice.
“They really got me through the program, even after mistakes,” she said. “It startled me after the loop going into my axel-axel because I went to step and the crowd went wild” — she gasped — “I went ‘Oh, shoot.’ But I walked back in, so I was proud of that.”
Talking to reporters while Levito skated — and insisting that they leave a clear view of the monitor as she rooted on her U.S. teammate — Glenn said she was happy to bounce back after her disappointing short program.
“I did not feel good physically here. I felt horrible, mentally,” she said. “So, coming into this event, I didn’t exactly feel like the powerful (fighter) that I need to be in my short program. I kind of felt a bit timid, and I’m just happy I was able to fight through that.”
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Jimmy Golen, The Associated Press
