Amber Glenn reacts to her score in the Olympic women’s short event event on Tuesday. Despite otherwise strong performance, she docked for a double loop landing instead of a triple loop.
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Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images
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MILAN – Figure skating at these Winter Olympics has been full of dramatic twists. And Tuesday, the first night of women’s competition, was no different: All American women qualified for Thursday’s medal competition. But they are far behind expectations.
The “Blade Angels”, as they have been dubbed, began Tuesday night’s short program as the country’s best hope for an individual medal in the event in two decades. But only two of them remained in the top 10.
That adds pressure to Thursday’s free skate, which accounts for half of their total score.
Reigning world champion Alyssa Liu is ranked third behind Japan’s Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto.
At the end of the night, 20-year-old Liu skated a powerful routine to Laufey’s “Promise”, giving her her best score of the season and moving her to the top of the leaderboard.
Alyssa Liu’s short program on Tuesday gave her her best score of the season.
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Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
She was followed by 18-year-old Isabeau Levitow, whose spectacular routine of “Almost in Your Arms, Zou Bisou Bisou” landed her in fifth place, with few skaters remaining. Ultimately he finished the night in eighth place.
The final skater was Amber Glenn, a three-time US champion who made her Olympic debut at the age of 26.
Glenn began her program – which was based on Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” – with a clean triple axel, a rare feat for women in the Olympics. The rest of her routine was strong until the last jump, which she landed as a double instead of the required triple, lowering her otherwise strong score.
After receiving a score of 67.39, she walked off the ice in tears and placed her head in her hands, as the packed crowd fell briefly into silence. Glenn, one of the medal favorites in the entire women’s field, finished the night in 13th place.
While Glenn took the ice Liu was talking to reporters below the rink, her routine – and reaction – visible on the TV screen. Liu seemed concerned for her partner and friend.
Liu said of Glenn, “She’s been through a lot and she works very hard… I just want her to be happy.” “Like, I really want this. And so I’ll see her later.”
Glenn has been a vocal advocate for mental health, sharing publicly about her struggles with anxiety and depression throughout her career. He did not answer press questions at the end of the night.
Most of American skating fans’ hopes for a women’s medal now rest on Liu. It’s an ironic turn for a skater who retired in his teens, then returned with a renewed emphasis on creativity rather than competition.
Following her performance on Tuesday, Liu spoke enthusiastically about her hopes of being invited to perform at the Olympic Exhibition Ceremony this weekend, teasing a “really cool program” that she has been working on that is “basically complete.”
“I don’t need a medal,” he said. “I just need to be here, and I just need to exist. And I need people to see what I do next.”
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