One day, Amber Glenn had Madonna cheering for her to get a gold. The other, the 26-year-old, was down on her knees, crying, because of one stumble that cost her all points on her element, with even Tara Lipinski understanding the emotional weight of the moment.

“Oh, so close to being perfect. And she was rolling. She hit the most beautiful triple axle, nailed the triple triple, and the easiest of the jumping passes was the loop right before she was going into it,” Lipinski said on air. “She really had a shot. It would have been close to that gold medal in this short program, but lost seven points.

“This is heartbreaking to watch.”

In her triple loop, Glenn bailed. That error invalidated it for 0 points on that element. She scored a 67.39, landing her in 13th place. Glenn clutched her hands to her chest, with tears gliding down her face. She skated off to an ovation from the crowd, then held her coach, Damon Allen, in a tight embrace, tears streaming down her face. 

Glenn was only one of two figure skaters at the event to attempt the three-and-a-half-revolution jump. She kept the momentum going with a triple flip-triple toe loop as the crowd cheered on. It was only a triple loop that ultimately failed. The women’s figure skating rules need an axel-type jump, a jump combination with a triple, and another triple jump.

“That’s how unforgiving this sport is,” NBC’s play-by-play broadcaster Terry Gannon said.

Under ISU guidelines, the consequences of an invalid element are severe. Invalid elements result in zero points toward the technical element portion of the score.

“I don’t know what happened, I had it,” she could be heard telling her coach Damon Allen. “It’s not over,” he replied.

It would have been better if she had tried the third loop and tripped. That would have also had a point deducted, but it would’ve been better than zero and the criticism she faced from her fans.

Glenn already has a gold medal from the team event on the opening weekend of the Winter Games. But now she enters the women’s free skate in 13th position, and securing a medal has now become a steep task.

Amber Glenn Can Still End Up On The Podium

Team USA doesn’t have an individual figure skating gold yet.

• Madison Chock and Evan Bates were left with silver in ice dance, thanks in part to some controversial scoring by a French judge.
• Two-time world champion Ilia Malinin crashed out of the men’s free skate after falling twice during the men’s final, finishing in 8th place.
• Some consider Alyssa Liu, who currently stands 3rd, as Team USA’s last hope for a gold medal in figure skating at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Yet despite the setbacks, the door isn’t completely closed for Amber Glenn.

“She’s not out of it,” NBC Analyst and former figure skater Mariah Bell said. “I really don’t think she’s out of contention for a medal. Right now, 67, she’s only 9 points out of 3rd right now. 9 points is really not that much.”

Glenn will need the top 12 to stumble and lose points, which shakes up the standings. There is a scenario where Glenn pushes the ones at the top with a perfect free skate. She will need to outscore the eventual bronze skater by 12 points or more.

“In a long program, if she can go out and absolutely be lights out, it’s not gonna be easy, but she has a really great opportunity to pull up a lot of spots for herself,” Bell said.

In addition, she has done something like this before.

At the 2023 US Championships, she made an error on her triple loop jump and placed fourth. In the free skate, she stepped out of her opening triple axel attempt and landed six other clean triples despite doubling one planned triple and singling a planned double Axel. She was third in that segment, rising to win the bronze medal. That was a comeback victory, but the rising ten places at the Olympics are a completely different deal. As Lipinski said of the sport:

“One revolution in the air changes everything.”