Amber Glenn had literally Madonna cheering for her. The “Queen of Pop,” whose song “Like A Prayer” serves as the soundtrack to her free skate, had seen a clip of the short program and sent a video to Glenn, telling her, “Go get that gold.” Unfortunately, Glenn stumbled. In her triple loop, Glenn bailed. That error invalidated it for 0 points on that element, and scored a 67.39, landing her in 13th place. As the reality of the error set in, the emotional weight of the moment became impossible to hide.

Glenn sank to her knees and 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, with Glenn crying openly. Watching from the broadcast booth, Tara Lipinski captured what many fans were feeling.

“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.”

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 ended up failing. The women’s figure skating rules need an axel-type jump, a jump combination with a triple, and another triple jump. 

“This is heartbreaking to watch,” Lapinski said while watching the replay. “That’s how unforgiving this sport is,” Gannon said. “One revolution in the air changes everything,” Lipinski added. 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. 

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It would have been better if she had tried the third loop and tripped. She would have had a point deducted, but better than 0, she was given. 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, securing a medal, a now-monumental feat. That ruling left Glenn with a steep climb heading into the next segment.

Amber Glenn Can Still End Up On The Podium

Team USA doesn’t have a 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. Meanwhile, 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 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Yet despite the setbacks, the door isn’t completely closed for Amber Glenn. 

“I don’t know what happened, I had it,” she could be heard telling her coach Damon Allen. “It’s not over,” he replied. NBC Analyst and former figure skater Mariah Bell agreed. “She’s not out of it,” 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 6 other clean triples despite doubling 1 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 10 places at the Olympics is a completely different deal.