Amber Glenn says Olympics debut ‘lackluster,’ but Ilia Malinin saves day
MILAN — Even though she’s a gold-medalist, Amber Glenn considered her Winter Olympics debut ‘lackluster.’
The three-time reigning U.S. champion skated for the first time in Milan with the women’s free skate portion of the team event Sunday, Feb. 8. She was shaky on her first two elements, a triple Axel and the triple flip-triple toe loop combination, which made for a concerning start to the program. She did regain control after that and landed her jumps, notably hitting the sequence of the triple loop-double Axel-double Axel.
Despite the recovery, she 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.
Glenn 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,’ she 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.’
Amber Glenn relieved by Ilia Malinin’s performance
The women’s free skates results put the U.S. and Japan at 59 points entering the final event of the night, the men’s free skate. That put the pressure on Ilia Malinin to win in order to take home the gold medal. Glenn felt bad for putting more on Malinin’s shoulders.
‘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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However, all was forgiven. Malinin came in clutch in his performance, beating out Japan’s Shun Sato. When it was confirmed Team USA won gold and he made his way to the rest of his teammates, Glenn greeted him by lifting him up in the air, which Malinin said was ‘really refreshing and honestly the moment is still not settling in yet.’
‘I was ecstatic, of course, because I felt guilty,’ Glenn said. ‘I felt like I left so much pressure on him, and he’s already under so much pressure being hailed as ‘Quad God’ and all that. He stepped up, like we all knew he would, but I was just really grateful.’
A day off is likely in store for Glenn since she has been constantly training, with rest needed to get her ready for the women’s single. When she does get back to training, she plans to do it ‘somewhere else’ so ‘hopefully can feel like a whole new competition.’
Luckily, Glenn will have plenty of time to reset. It will be nine days until she has to compete again, with the short program Tuesday, Feb. 17. It could bode well since Glenn is one of the medal contenders in the women’s singles competition.