One Year After Breakout U.S. Championships Performance, Amber Glenn Returns with Olympic Hopes

The last time Olympic Team selection was on the line at a U.S. Championships, in 2018, Amber Glenn had the flu.
 
In her own words, she was a middle-of-the-pack skater and not performing well. She finished a distant eighth place at the U.S. Championships, not close to the three-woman Olympic team.
 
The Glenn heading to Nashville, Tennessee, for the 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a very different skater hoping for a very different outcome.
 
At the 2021 U.S. Championships, Glenn finally had the breakout she'd been looking for her whole career. In five senior U.S. Championships appearances, the 2014 U.S. junior champion had placed 13th, eighth (twice), seventh and fifth. But in 2021, Glenn put together the performance of her life to take silver, securing her spot among the elite U.S. ladies for the 2021-22 season.
 
In two Grand Prix assignments, Glenn placed sixth at 2021 Guaranteed Rate Skate America and seventh at NHK Trophy, and earned silver at the Golden Spin of Zagreb.
 
"It's not quite what I wanted, but it isn't disastrous," Glenn said. "Unfortunately, I had a minor leg injury flare up (at NHK Trophy), which was not the best, but I got through it and was able to recover in time to be able to compete in Croatia. I was able to get a medal there. Still not what I would've liked it to be, but it was another chance for me to go and attempt the triple Axel in competition, which was progress. I finally stood up on it, but obviously not how I can do it. So it just gives me a little bit of confidence going into U.S. Championships that, 'Okay, now just take the training wheels off, and you're good.'"
 
Of course, the triple Axel is what separates Glenn from the rest of the pack. She and two-time U.S. champion Alysa Liu are the only two active U.S. ladies that have successfully landed the jump, and it's something that Glenn does not take for granted.
 
"It's something that I love doing," Glenn said. "It gives me a feeling of accomplishment like nothing else does. It is a jump that I feel empowered when I do it, and I feel like over the last year, it's really become something that I feel a lot more comfortable with. I don't go into it with any fear or hesitation. I feel like I attack it more now, and my percentages have definitely skyrocketed, especially with doing them clean on one foot. Hopefully after this season's over, I can try some quads."
 
However, at 22 years old – "It is wonderful to know that I am 22 years old with arthritis," she said with a laugh – Glenn knows she can't throw herself into training such a difficult jump without a plan.
 
"I have a notebook that I keep out there, and I will keep track," Glenn said. "I definitely keep it under 20 a day. I have to make sure that I don't become hyper-fixated on it and just want to do more, more, more until my body can't take it anymore."
 
Glenn and her coaching team decided to remove the triple Axel from her programs at Skate America©, aiming to just have a solid short program under her belt and go into the free skate confident. It resulted in a personal-best free skate score of 133.54, and a personal-best total score of 201.02.
 
"I finally scored over 200 combined. Unfortunately, it was a very difficult event, so 200 combined didn't cut it," she said with a laugh. "And of course I know I can skate better, and I know now, with the difficulty I have in my programs and the retouches and polishing we've done, that the potential for my programs has gone up a lot since Skate America. So it was a great blueprint for the year."
 
It was a year unlike any other in Glenn's career – for the first time, she began a season with two Grand Prix assignments locked in. It was a different experience to be able to have a concrete plan for the season, and equally as bizarre to be one of the Team USA's leading ladies.
 
"Honestly, throughout this international season, I've been focusing on consistency, getting comfortable with competing in front of a crowd again, composure," Glenn said. "It sounds so typical, but I hold myself back sometimes, and anyone that watches me in practice or has trained with me or seen me on official practice ices will tell you that I get in my own way. Because I know, after years of people telling me, I am capable of great things, and they've seen it before. I just need to do it at the right time."
 
Glenn hopes that Jan. 6-7 at Bridgestone Arena will be the right time. She's returned to last year's short program set to "Scars" by Madilyn Bailey because she believes it's a better fit for her skating and would be incredibly meaningful for her in potentially the biggest moment of her career.
 
"I feel like it's just me," Glenn said. "The passion is there, the emotion, the joy. I feel like this performance is coming from me, and I'm putting my heart out there, and I just wanted to be able to do that at nationals (U.S. Championships), and hopefully at the Olympics. It's such an important program for me, because it just symbolizes my journey with mental health and taking care of myself, and learning to love myself."
 
And whether or not an Olympic berth is in the cards, Glenn is just glad to have the opportunity there for the taking.
 
"I'm so thrilled to finally have this feeling of hope," Glenn said. "I can actually think about, 'Wow, I'm trying to make it onto the Olympic Team.' I've never had that before. And I just can't wait to be there in Nashville."

Fans can watch the action this week in Nashville on NBC and USA, as well as live and on-demand on Peacock Premium. Visit the 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Virtual Fan Experience for a behind-the-scenes look at the event.