Amber Glenn makes personal and social history despite flawed performance

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Amber Glenn makes personal and social history despite flawed performance

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When eventual winner Amber Glenn finished her free skate, she was crestfallen, her head bowed, her eyes downcast as she kneeled on the ice.

When defending champion Isabeau Levito finished her free skate a few minutes later, she was despondent, her hands covering her face as she kneeled on the ice.

Rarely has a national championship had such a deflating ending, even if Glenn’s triumph after years of struggles deserves to be celebrated.

“It wasn’t exactly how I wanted to get my first national title,” Glenn said. “It was a mix of being extremely grateful for the results but also knowing I can do so much better.”

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Jason Brown, star in his own right, bears witness to another supernova lighting up U.S. men's skating

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Jason Brown, star in his own right, bears witness to another supernova lighting up U.S. men's skating


COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jason Brown has spent the past eight years as a skating star competing in the national championships against a supernova.

First it was Nathan Chen, who overwhelmed the field while winning six straight U.S. titles en route to the 2022 Olympic gold medal.

Now it is Ilia Malinin, on his way to a second straight U.S. title after scoring 108.57 points to win Friday afternoon’s short program at Nationwide Arena by a whopping 18.85 points over Max Naumov.

“The level of skating just continues to be elevated year after year,” said Brown, a two-time Olympian and 2015 U.S. champion, who was less than a point behind Naumov.

“Nathan just kept pushing and pushing and pushing the sport. Ilia is doing the same thing. I think it’s incredible. Mad respect.”

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Glenn wins fans, Levito judges in nationals short program

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Glenn wins fans, Levito judges in nationals short program

COLUMBUS, Ohio – There was no doubt who won the building.

But it was a bit surprising the judges didn’t agree with the crowd’s assessment of Amber Glenn, who earned a standing ovation for her high-energy short program Thursday night at the Prevagen U.S. Championships.

Despite a notable mistake on her final spin and unimpressive execution of another, defending champion Isabeau Levito managed first place (75.38 points) over Glenn (74.98). Both were comfortably ahead of third place Clare Seo (67.41).

Glenn’s fiery command of clean skating led to her best short program finish in nine appearances at senior nationals. Her previous best had been fourth, even though she had skated well in several others.

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Gracie Gold’s comeback yields its most fruitful success in nationals short program

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Gracie Gold’s comeback yields its most fruitful success in nationals short program

It is simple, really, what Gracie Gold wanted out of her eighth and possibly final appearance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“This nationals for me is the cherry on top of what I consider a pretty successful comeback attempt,” Gold said a day before the women’s singles event began with the short program Thursday in Nashville.

Truth be told, just coming back constituted a considerable success for Gold, given the multiple issues – eating disorders, depression, anxiety – she had dealt with for several years. She missed the 2018 and 2019 nationals and battled just to qualify each of the past three seasons.

At 26, Gold came to this one in a better place competitively than she had been in a long time. At her final qualifying event last November in Georgia, she showed flashes in her short program of the skater who had won national titles in 2014 and 2016 and finished fourth in the 2014 Olympics.

“I’ve had lots of good training over the past two or three months,” Gold said Wednesday. “I have been really proud of myself and my team and all the hard work that we’ve done, so my goal is to really show that and kind of show off a little bit like old times.

“The short program in Georgia was really nice and long overdue. I hope to have a similar outcome tomorrow.”

This one was even nicer – on the score sheet and in the way Gold reacted, a wide smile on her face for nearly the final minute of a 2-minute, 40-second program that ended with the crowd at Bridgestone Arena on its feet to applaud.

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After a highly decorated career, Ashley Wagner is proudest of current chapter in her story

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After a highly decorated career, Ashley Wagner is proudest of current chapter in her story

At this time four years ago, Ashley Wagner was beginning the final months of training for what she reasonably could have expected would lead to her second Olympic appearance after having won an Olympic team event bronze medal in 2014.

Sure, her 2016-17 season had been a struggle, with a subpar seventh-place performance at the World Championships. But that was still her sixth straight worlds, and, among U.S. women, only Michelle Kwan has a longer consecutive appearance streak.

Beyond that, Wagner had skated to a silver medal at the 2016 Worlds, to this day the only medal by a U.S. woman at worlds since 2006. And Wagner had been just five points from a medal at the 2015 Worlds, when she was third in the free skate.

In October 2017, no one could have foreseen Bradie Tennell going from relative unknown to 2018 U.S. champion or Mirai Nagasu putting it together for a stunning performance when it counted most, at the 2018 U.S. Championships. Wagner, a three-time U.S. champion, and Karen Chen, the 2017 champion, were, at that point, seemingly the best bets to claim spots on the team going to South Korea, with the third and final spot up for grabs.

Four months later, after a workmanlike, unremarkable performance at nationals, Wagner would be the odd woman out.

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