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For the first time in her senior career, Amber Glenn is the American figure skating champion.
Having finished on the podium several times at national level in the past, including a third place finish last year, his overall score of 210.46 was enough to finally give Glenn the gold. It was his sixth appearance at the US championship.
Glenn’s victory makes her the first openly LGBTQ+ skater to win the US women’s title.
“Being the first openly queer women’s champion is incredible,” Glenn said. “When I originally came out, I was terrified and afraid it would affect my scores or something, but I didn’t care. It’s been worth it to see, in recent years, the number of young people who are becoming more comfortable in their environments on the court.” .
Josephine Lee took the silver medal with an all-around score of 204.13, but it was Isabeau Levito who was neck and neck with Glenn following her. Thursday short programs. Levito was sitting first entering the free skate, and Glenn was less than half a point behind in second. Neither man had his best performance on Friday night.
While Glenn was able to execute his triple axel early in the program, there were some missed elements later in the performance that cost him points.
“I was disappointed in myself again because I know I could have contributed a little more and I trusted myself to do a little more in that second half,” Glenn said. “Going from that, feeling like my success was slipping away, to realizing that I had it, was a mix of happiness, of course. That’s not exactly how I wanted to get my first national title, but I’m incredibly happy.” grateful for that.”
With Levito set to close the event, there was an opportunity for her to emerge as national champion for the second year in a row. However, from the beginning of her skating, Levito struggled and suffered a couple of falls that led to a four-point deduction and a third-place finish.
“Tonight felt like a fever dream,” Levito said. “It was very difficult trying to defend the title, and I think when I made that mistake for the first time, I woke up.”
That crowd was treated to another bit of history within the women’s free skate program during Mia Kalin’s performance at the beginning of the event. Although she didn’t finish on the podium, the 15-year-old became the first woman to cleanly perform a quadruple jump (a skill with four twists, also known as a “quad”) at the US Championships.
men’s short program
Ilia Malinin put himself in perfect position to defend his 2023 title, with a score of 108.57 in Friday’s short program.
Finishing nearly 20 points better than second-place skater Maxim Naumov, who totaled 89.72 points, Malinin posted the largest lead in US Figure Skating Championship history after the short programs portion of the men’s event .
Although there was no quad axel, the move that put Malinin in the record books in 2022, the 19-year-old still lived up to his “quad god” nickname by executing two other quad skills.
“The audience that comes here, some of them fly or drive a long way here to see us skate,” Malinin said. “We just appreciate them a lot… For us, trying to do our best in front of them is really a way to show it.”
Jason Brown, former Olympian and 2015 U.S. champion, was another fan favorite on the men’s side. The 29-year-old didn’t have his best short program in Columbus, as he was deducted a point for a fall, dropping him to third place, but no stranger to obstacles on the road, the veteran remained positive after his performance.
“I love the U.S. championships,” Brown said. “It just feels like a homecoming every time I come back year after year. As far as my performance, I felt really good out there. Obviously, it’s not ideal to start, you know, on the backside, but I love the fight. until the end.”
The next two events that will crown their champion will be ice dance and couples, both with their long programs on Saturday.
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