Amber Glenn holds off Higuchi Wakaba for first Grand Prix triumph in Angers
Skate America winner Higuchi took the free skate with Glenn only third, but the US skater did enough to claim overall victory at the Grand Prix de France.
Figure Skating
Amber Glenn kept up her stellar start to the 2024-25 figure skating season with victory at the Grand Prix de France on Saturday (2 November).
It was a combination of firsts in Angers for the USA skater who scored her personal best to take the lead in the short program, found herself at the top of the leader board at in the series for the first time and won her first Grand Prix title. Glenn relished her accomplishment, but it also came with a bundle of nerves that almost cost her the win.
After her superb short program, Glenn's jumping was not as clean in her free skate to Audiomachine's 'I Will Find You The Return'. She had a hand down on her opening triple Axel and fell on a triple flip.
While the US athlete, who turned 25 earlier this week, was not perfect in her jumps, her 7.24-point lead from the short program was enough to hold off Higuchi Wakaba of Japan. Her free skate score of 132.30 gave her a winning total of 210.44.
"I didn't know what to expect. I know that people did really good before me and I knew that I didn't need to be perfect today, but I just had a little bit of self doubt and a little bit of hesitance," Glenn told Olympics.com after. "It was a lot of just small things that I held back on.
"I think just the excitement but also the pressure of being in first yesterday was a lot, especially for it being my first time for something like that so the adrenaline was a bit low today. I feel like if it was high, I would have stuck those landings a bit more."
Glenn shared that she was up at 5:15 a.m. in the morning of the free skate, drank 350ml of coffee and stayed off most social media in the hours since her short program triumph. Although was not enough to fully banish her nervousnes, Glenn commended her process as a work in progress for future competitions, which includes her next Grand Prix assignment at the Cup of China.
"I really just focused on me and feeling my body and recovering and staying in a good mental place," she said. "I haven't felt 100 per cent this week, so I've just been trying my best to set myself up as well as I can for the free skate and I feel like I did that. Only thing I can say, I wish I would have had an extra coffee."
Third after the short program, Skate America winner Higuchi delighted the crowd with her skate to 'Nature Boy' and 'Running Up That Hill' from the Stranger Things soundtrack.
Her free skate 139.10 and total 206.08 were both season's bests, while her second place finish earned her a ticket to next month's Grand Prix Final in Grenoble.
Sumiyoshi Rion ensured two Japanese skaters would finish on the podium after her second place in the free skate (134.47) moved her into third overall with a personal best total of 201.35. She put both feet down on her quad toeloop
"That's the landing I did last year," Sumiyoshi told Olympics.com about her choice to perform the difficult element. "I wanted to show to the audience who I am by giving myself challenges."
Also third at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, Sumiyoshi applauded winner Glenn who is the first non-Japanese skater to top the women's singles podium at this season's Grand Prix series.
"When you look at Amber's short program or her during her practice, it's more than just the mental. I think she's got this kind of strength and she really motivates me to get this strength that she has," Sumiyoshi said. "I feel like I have to have this mindset to avoid making small mistakes, so there are indeed some small adjustments to make, but I think I can be quite satisfied as the first competition in this series."
Lying second overnight, Republic of Korea's world bronze medallist Kim Chae-yeon struggled badly with her jumping and slipped out of the podium places.
"I was very nervous and when I started the program, I didn't think everything, so I think that is the reason for the mistakes," Kim said. "So I will be sad, but I want a better performance at the Cup of China Grand Prix."