MILAN — Despite winning a gold medal, Amber Glenn considered her Winter Olympics debut ‘lackluster.’
The reigning U.S. champion skated for the first time in Milan, competing in the women’s free skate portion of the team event Sunday, Feb. 8. She was shaky on her first two elements in triple Axel and the triple flip-triple toe loop combination, which made for a concerning start to the program. However, she regained control after that and landed her jumps, notably hitting the sequence of the triple loop-double Axel-double Axel.
Glen held on the rest of the way, but didn’t get a great score, earning a 138.62, with 70.91 technical score and 67.71 in the components category. She dropped to third overall after Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto scored a 148.62 for first place. Second place went to Anastasiia Gubanova 140.17.
She left many points on the table and didn’t feel her best, she said.
‘I just did not feel wonderful, like even in the warm ups,’ Glenn said. ‘My leg was just sore, and it’s not an injury, it’s nothing that we need to worry about. It’s just something that I need that rest and recovery time.’
There was a noticeable sense of disappointment from Glenn as she left the ice and heard her score. She knew it was a battle going against Sakamoto, but Gubanova’s exceptional performance put her in a great spot.
‘I feel guilty,’ she said. ‘My team has done so well, and my performance was lackluster. I scored lower than my median and what they were counting on, and I placed lower than what would have been expected.’
It resulted in a tie between the US and Japan at 59 points entering the final event of the night, the men’s free skate. Team USA needed Ilia Malinin to win in order to take home the gold medal, which he did to help secure back-to-back gold medals for the U.S. in the event.
Glenn felt bad for putting more pressure on Malinin to secure the win, but when it was confirmed the U.S. won gold, she picked up Malinin as the rest of the Team USA celebrated.
‘I’m so sorry that I had to put this pressure onto him,’ she said. ‘I wish that I could have kept that lead for us, but unfortunately, I lost it.’
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Glenn is one of the medal contenders in the women’s singles competition, and has a big opportunity to bring Team USA one step closer to a gold medal in the team event for the second consecutive Winter Games.
A day off is likely in store since she has been constantly training, so she thinks she needs some rest now to get her ready for the women’s single. It will be better since it will be a normal competition schedule instead of getting thrusted into the free skate without doing the short program.