Glenn, Liu and Isabeau Levito make up the United States' new Big Three heading to Milan.
United States women have not won an Olympic medal in figure skating's singles event since Sasha Cohen's silver in 2006. Based on the performances of Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito in this week's nationals, however, that could change at the Milan Games in just a few weeks. .
The Big Three lived up to their name, claiming gold, silver and bronze at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Friday night. And now they await their selection to the United States Olympic team on Sunday, and a date with the rest of the world in February.
Skating her long program to "I Will Find You" by Audiomachine, Glenn opened with a triple axel — 3 1/2 revolutions — and never looked back. A soulful, evocative program marred only by the slightest of wobbles and tightness was nonetheless strong enough to earn Glenn, 26, a score of 233.55, good for her third straight national title.
Liu, 20, has recaptured the nation’s attention — and soon the world’s — thanks both to her talent as an Olympian and two-time U.S. champion, and to her decision to walk away from the sport entirely for two years. But now she’s back, skating with joy and exuberance, and on Friday night she posted a Lady Gaga-soundtracked routine of graceful brilliance that judges awarded a silver medal-winning score of 228.91.
Levito, the 18-year-old 2023 national champion, skated an exquisite routine to the music of “Cinema Paradiso.” Her near-flawless performance earned her a final score of 224.45. In any other Olympics of the last 20 years, she’d be the leading light, in this one she’ll have to fight for the spotlight. It's a good problem for the United States to have.
In the pairs competition, Alisa Efimov and Misha Mitrofanov repeated as national champions with a triumphant performance. But a huge question mark looms over their bid to join the United States Olympic team … and that could leave the door open for another American pair to travel to Milan.
Efimov and Mitrofanov executed a brilliant, though not quite flawless, long routine to maintain their hold atop the pairs standings, finishing with 207.71 points. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, the 2024 U.S. champions, won silver with 197.12 points, and Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman finished in the bronze position with 187.45. Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe claimed the pewter medal, while Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy struggled through their long routine and plummeted from second place after the short program to fifth overall.
There’s still significant uncertainty at the top of the rankings from an Olympic perspective. Efimov and Mitrofanov’s Olympic fates remain at the mercy of the federal government. Efimov is not a U.S. citizen, but possesses a green card and has applied for naturalization. While many international competitions do not require skaters to be citizens of the nation they represent, the International Olympic Committee mandates that all its competitors be citizens of their nations. The problem for Efimov is that the standard waiting period for her request is measured in years … and she only has hours.
Among the women, Glenn had leaped out to an early lead in Wednesday’s short program when she posted an 83.05, the highest score in U.S. Championships history. Liu placed less than two points behind her at 81.11, which was the championships record for the few minutes until Glenn skated. Levito followed with a 75.72. All three skaters set personal best short-program marks.
“I feel ecstatic. The score was huge,” a joyful Glenn said after her skate. “I was not expecting that.”
Liu, equally gleeful, gushed, “I feel over the moon right now. I’m so happy with that short program. I would say that’s my favorite program I’ve done that I’ve performed for an audience.”
"This competition feels like a really big show, with the announcing and the lights and the suspenseful music,” Levito added. “It felt a little different, and I felt really happy with myself that I did my job."
U.S. Figure Skating will select its teams on Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern, and then the preparation for Milan begins.
Category: General Sports
