By Hiro Yoshida

It is fair to say that this season has been a breakout one for Amber Glenn. This week she starts her quest to retain the United States Figure Skating Championships title she won for the first time last year off the back of an impressive international winning streak and a newfound consistency in her skating.

Last September Glenn stunned the skating world by winning Lombardia Trophy ahead of triple world champion Kaori Sakamoto. As if to prove that was no fluke, she was victorious at both of her Grand Prix assignments in France and China and qualified with ease to last month Grand Prix Final. In Grenoble, she overcame Sakamoto once more and four other Japanese skaters to become the first American woman since Alissa Czisny in 2010 to mine gold at a Grand Prix Final.

Despite having had a perfect season in terms of results, Glenn is not completely satisfied with how she has skated in all her events and is vigilant about becoming complacent.

“I had done a lot of work in the spring and in the summer to really make a change, and I’m seeing the result of it now, and I’m really happy with it,” she said. “I’m still waiting to have that fist bump excited performance of ‘Yes, I did it’ rather than just having to power through and get through it. I really hope in the future I can continue to improve.”

The success she has had over the past few months has fuelled her confidence and focus which is an area where she lacked earlier in her career.

“I know that I’m capable of doing really well, which before I would doubt myself in that,” Glenn said. “But what I know is that I need to do my job and what other people do I can’t control. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, whatever, I just want to do what I can and put out a performance I’m proud of.”

Up until recently, the trend in women’s figure skating was for wave after wave of teenagers to dominate for a season or two and then fade into obscurity. At the age of 25, Glenn clearly does not fit that model. She puts her progression this season down to exploring new methods to increase her consistency over the past few year and all of that coming together finally.

“I think it’s come from experience and having a good team around me and just trying new things,” she said. “I’ve been trying new things, and something really clicked this year, I’ve been taking care of my mind and body really well.”

One of those things has been the incorporation of neurotherapy into her off-ice regime which Glenn believes has allowed her to become more focused and train better and get inspiration from other skaters with whom she shares practice ice.

“My sports psychologist recommended it to me after Worlds and nationals, where I kind of faltered in the second half a lot, because my attention span would just go away.

“It’s very scientific. It literally tracks my brain waves and gets me to calm down. I’ve done a couple of sessions pretty consistently throughout the summer, and it has helped in my everyday life, not just in my skating. I was in a constant fight or flight state. Even just when I closed my eyes, it would happen. Being able to do that, along with almost like a meditation breathing, has helped me really centre myself. It is not a cure all. I’ve been training a lot better. I’ve been just really focused, and I’ve had my training mate, Elise Lynn Gracey. She’s incredible and she’s really pushed me. I want to be a role model for the people at the rink. I feel like the combination of all those things has really helped.”

It is all a far cry from this time just three seasons ago when injury and illness woes derailed Glenn’s journey to the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

“Three years ago, I was not in a great state, mentally or physically,” Glenn recalled. “I had been dealing with lots of injuries throughout the season, and I was struggling to try and land a triple axel in competition, while also just training day to day. I was just thrown into, ‘Okay, you’re going to try and make the Olympics’, and it was very sudden for me. This time, there’s been a lot more build up, a lot more consistency. I just feel like a whole different person than three years ago.”

While her goal this week will be to win her second national title amidst formidable domestic opposition, Glenn also has the World Championships in Boston in her sights. The event will be the first and most important opportunity for nations to secure spots at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.

“The goal there, of course, is to qualify those three slots for the US, along with my teammates, and we have a very strong women’s USA field this year,” Glenn said. “We’re going to have four different national champions competing at nationals (Note – 2023 champion Isabeau Levito withdrew on 14 January), and I just want to try and secure that place at Worlds. Of course, personally, I want to have that fist pumping performance, that performance I’m truly proud of and now I know that with that I could be on the podium (in Boston). Just the thought of that is really encouraging.”

After landing a triple Axel for the first time in competition at 2023 Skate America, the jump has gone on to become a reliable and significant weapon in Glenn’s arsenal. It was an element that she only began working on at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic at a stage in her career when most skaters would struggle to add something with such difficulty to their repertoire. When Glenn in the developmental phase of her career, female skaters attempting triple Axels were few and far between.

“When I was 9, 10, 11, 12, the only person that was doing it was Mao Asada,” Glenn said. “It was unheard of. I didn’t even think of trying it when I was that young. It wasn’t even a thought. Then the quad revolution happened, and I was already in my late teens, early 20s. When Covid happened, I took it as an opportunity to make new goals, and one of those goals was to land a new jump, which was triple Axel. I just did my best to accomplish it, and eventually I did.

“When I finally landed it in competition for the first time, after that it has been pretty consistent. It had been many, many years since I had landed a new jump in competition. Once I got over that hill, it’s been a lot easier ever since.

“I would say it is one of the easier jumps for me now, but it took a very long time to get there.”

Glenn has been a trailblazer in women’s figure skating in other ways. In 2019, she came out as pansexual. As well as the Stars and Stripes, fans across the world have been cheering her on by waving Pride flags. It is something that means a lot to Glenn as an out athlete.

“I absolutely love the atmosphere. People are very, very supportive, and the rainbow flags, it just makes me feel like I have a community around me no matter how I perform. They’re just happy to have someone representing them out there at a competition like the Grand Prix Final. It’s been really great.”

Last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris saw 195 LGBTQ athletes compete openly and Glenn is glad to see her counterparts across the sporting world represent on a global scale.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful and inspiring. Athletes are becoming more and more comfortable with being who they are without fear of retaliation from the public or judges. Many years ago, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. For us to be able to live as our true selves is amazing, and I’m so glad that we have representatives like the people that were competing at Paris.”

Figure skating is somewhat of an anomaly as a sport in that there are more out male athletes than female ones. Before Glenn disclosed she is pansexual, she did have concerns about what it would be like to be one of the few LGBTQ female skaters competing. Ultimately, she believes she made the right decision.

“I had a fear that it would have me portrayed as less feminine and more rugged, and that can be difficult in skating, especially since I’m already a more muscular, more powerful and strong skater. That definitely was a fear of mine, but the inspiration and happiness I’ve been able to bring to the community outweighed any fear I could have had.”

As she sets out to retain her national title this week in Wichita, Kansas, Glenn is clearly on a mission over the next twelve months, but she is being careful about taking everything step by step.

“I try my best not to get ahead of myself. I first want to go to Worlds and qualify the slots for the US for Milano but as of right now, it’s just a dream that I hope to work hard to accomplish.”