Plano native Amber Glenn makes U.S. Figure Skating Team for Winter Olympics after winning 3rd straight title
A North Texas native can now add Olympian to her resume after putting together a phenomenal free skate, which won her a third consecutive U.S. Figure Skating title.
On the ice, Amber Glenn, of Plano, was putting together another brilliant free skate, landing the opening triple axel that has become her hallmark and eventually putting the final touches on a program destined to earn her a first-place win.
Off the ice, Alysa Liu was cheering her on.
With her newly dyed halo hairdo going viral, Liu had stuck around after her own spectacular showing inside the packed Enterprise Center, and she didn't seem to care Friday night that Glenn was about to push the reigning world champion to the silver medal.
"She trains so hard," Liu said, "and to skate a clean program, it's so deserving."
Glenn ultimately finished with 233.55 points to become the first back-to-back-to-back national champ since Michelle Kwan's last title in 2005, while Liu wound up second with 228.91 points. Isabeau Levito earned the bronze medal with 224.45 points and, more than likely, the final women's spot on the American squad headed for the Winter Games.
"I felt like I was going to throw up. My stomach has been bothering me all day. Woof," Glenn said. "Fake it 'till you make it. I took that to heart. I was just trying to get in touch with my body and get a feel for the ice, and I think my years of experience kicked in."
And on Sunday, the 26-year-old learned she secured her spot for the Olympic Games.
What happened when the women took to the ice for their final skate
Isabeau Levito was up first among the American "big three," performing with her trademark balletic style in a sparkly blue dress to music from the 1988 Italian coming-of-age film "Cinema Paradiso" — just image that on the ice in Milan next month.
Her free skate score represented a season-best and thrust Levito into first place.
"First time competing at nationals in an Olympic year being age-eligible for the Olympics, so there was extra pressure," the 18-year-old Levito said. "I was happy that I could rely on my training to get me through my program."
Liu clapped when Levito's score was read amid her own warm-up, then ripped through the debut of her new free skate set to a medley of Lady Gaga songs. It was a performance every bit as good as Liu's showing at the world championships in Boston last year, when she became the first American to stand atop the podium in two decades.
The pressure was on Glenn to respond. And did she ever.
From her opening triple axel, the only 3 1/2-revolution jump that any of the medal contenders attempted, to the final chords of music, the 26-year-old from Plano, Texas, had the crowd on its feet. Glenn skated off to a standing ovation, then broke down in tears along with her coach, Damon Allen, when her huge score was read over the arena loudspeakers.
She was soon joined in the kiss-and-cry area by Liu and Levito, the now U.S. triumvirate for the Milan Cortina Games, who will be trying to earn the American women their first medal since 2006 — and perhaps their first gold since 2002.
"If we do our jobs in Milan," Glenn said, "then more than likely someone is going to be up there."
Who's on the U.S. Figure Skating Team?
World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, the first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true," said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
"The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life," U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
"Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, "and this is not the fun part."
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.