GRENOBLE, France (AP) — Ilia Malinin executed six quadruple jumps and Amber Glenn marked the end of a 14-year drought for gold for the United States on a landmark day for American figure skaters at the Grand Prix Final on Saturday. Both Malinin and Glenn triumphed in their respective segments, while Madison Chock and Evan […]
GRENOBLE, France (AP) — Ilia Malinin executed six quadruple jumps and Amber Glenn marked the end of a 14-year drought for gold for the United States on a landmark day for American figure skaters at the Grand Prix Final on Saturday.
Both Malinin and Glenn triumphed in their respective segments, while Madison Chock and Evan Bates defended their ice dance crown, enabling the U.S. to capture three of the four senior gold medals.
Malinin tried seven quads during his routine, featuring the quad axel—the only one he has successfully executed in competition—punctuated by a backflip towards the conclusion. Although he stumbled once, he successfully landed the other six quads, albeit with deductions for execution on all attempts.
“So much was swirling in my head. It felt just insane,” Malinin remarked. “I had this vision and aim that I wanted to fulfill here and managed to hit it out of the park.”
Malinin’s free skate score was marginally lower than runner-up Yuma Kagiyama’s, but his 12-point advantage from Friday’s short program ensured he remained comfortably in the lead overall. With a total of 292.12 points, Malinin retained the Grand Prix Final title successfully.
Olympic silver medalist Kagiyama scored 281.78 for the second position after completing three quads in the free skate, while fellow Japanese competitor Shun Sato secured bronze with 270.82 points.
Amber Glenn’s moment
Glenn became the first American woman to seize the Grand Prix Final title since Alissa Czisny did so 14 years prior. Three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto found herself in third place.
This concludes an undefeated breakout season for the 25-year-old Glenn, who commenced the year by claiming her first U.S. title in January. Glenn expressed that acclimatizing to being atop the podium has been challenging.
“I’m worn out,” she stated. “It’s been a whirlwind of a season, and I’ve somewhat battled with this imposter syndrome. Just, ‘Oh, no, no, I’m not the winner. That can’t be me.’ I’m just thrilled my hard work is finally being recognized, and this is a remarkable event, and I’m privileged to be a part of it.”
Competing last in the six-woman field against five Japanese skaters, there was little indication of the distress which had affected Glenn in Thursday’s short program.
Glenn initiated her performance with a bold triple axel and managed to overcome a minor wobble mid-way through her free skate—doubling a planned triple salchow and slightly under-rotating a triple flip—to conclude strongly, achieving a total score of 212.07 for the victory.
Mone Chiba, who claimed silver at both of her Grand Prix events this season, finished second again with a score of 208.85.
World champion Sakamoto recovered from a lackluster short program and executed a strong free skate set to the musical “Chicago,” earning bronze with a score of 201.13.
Chock and Bates, performing to a jazz medley, clinched the ice dance gold for the second consecutive year with a total of 219.85, winning by nearly 14 points over Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri. Third place went to Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, just one point behind.
Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin secured the pairs event on Friday.
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