Amber Glenn wins US figure skating championship: Live updates, reaction

How figure skater Amber Glenn became an inspiration on and off the ice

In the premier episode of the Milan Magic vodcast, Brian Boitano and Christine Brennan discuss the inspirational story of Amber Glenn.

Sports Seriously, Milan Magic

ST. LOUIS — Amber Glenn has won the women’s title at the 2026 U.S. figure skating championships, topping reigining world champion Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito to secure her third consecutive national title.

Glenn, who had a record-breaking score in the short program, put on a fantastic free skate Saturday, taking a moment in child’s pose on the ice after as the crowd rained stuffies on the ice and applause from the stands.

The performance earned her a 150.50 from the judges, bringing her total to 233.55. This makes Glenn, Liu and Levito all but locks to make the Olympic roster. Milano Cortina will be Glenn’s Olympic debut.

“So grateful,” Glenn said after. “That was terrifying and I had to skate after these two incredible ladies brought the house down, so I’m glad that I didn’t disappoint too much. I’m still just mind blown.”

Glenn, Liu and Levito share a close bond, and held each other in a huge embrace after Glenn’s final score was announced.

“To share a podium with these girls, to spend more time with them, UGH, love it,” Liu said. “Also, listen, I’m just really happy and I’m so proud of them. Listen, this crowd was amazing … I saw y’all’s standing ovations and that’s what it should be about.”

On the pairs side, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov captured their second consecutive national title with 207.71 points. Yet the question remains if the couple will be Olympic eligible, a storyline to watch as the Team USA announcement approaches. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea finished second; Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman earned third.

On Saturday, Ilia Malinin goes for his fourth straight national title, and ice dance pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates go for their seventh overall. U.S. Figure Skating will announce the 2026 Olympic team on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Here’s a look back at all the scores, results and highlights from Friday’s action.

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Here are the overall standings for women’s singles.

1. Amber Glenn: 233.55
2. Alysa Liu: 228.91
3. Isabeau Levito: 224.45
4. Bradie Tennell: 211.48
5. Sarah Everhardt: 209.47
6. Sophie Joline von Felten: 190.80
7. Starr Andrews: 183.50
8. Sherry Zhang: 180.24
9. Emilia Nemirovsky: 176.72
10. Elyce Lin-Gracey: 174.76
11. Logan Higase-Chen: 171.09
12. Alina Bonillo: 159.99
13. Katie Shen: 158.15
14. Sonja Hilmer: 155.25
15. Brooke Gewalt: 152.99
16. Josephine Lee: 152.31
17. Anabel Wallace: 144.51
18. Erica Machida: 144.26

Amber Glenn completed a national championship three-peat after posting a huge 150.50 off her short program on Friday.

For the free skate at the nationals, the reigning world champion used her revamped Lady Gaga medley, bringing back a program figure skating fans have been eagerly awaiting to see.

“It’s a totally new free skate, so I’m excited,” Alysa Liu said earlier this week.

She delivered in a big way, scoring a 148.73 and finishing second behind Amber Glenn.

It’s been a work in progress for several months for Liu, who last performed it at the 2025 CS Lombardia Trophy in September. It wasn’t the strongest showing, so she and choreographer Massimo Scali decided it was “not right yet” and needed to be re-worked. In the meantime, she went back to her “MacArthur Park Suite” free skate.

Since then, there’s been wonder when the Lady Gaga free skate would come back. At Skate America in November, Liu said her team was still tinkering with the music and choreography, working on it “behind the scenes and in training.”

There were some changes, notably in the song choices. “Bloody Mary” is no longer in the mix, and instead Liu is using the songs “Chromatica” and “Paparazzi,” with “Bad Romance” remaining as the closer.

1. Amber Glenn: 150.50 total segment score, 76.31 technical elements score, 74.19 program components score.
2. Alysa Liu: 147.80 total segment score, 75.16 technical elements score, 72.64 program components score.
3. Isabeau Levito: 148.73 total segment score, 75.29 technical elements score, 73.44 program components score.
4. Bradie Tennell: 141.95 total segment score, 73.65 technical elements score, 68.30 program components score.
5. Sarah Everhardt: 138.37 total segment score, 72.56 technical elements score, 65.81 program components score.
6. Sophie Joline von Felten: 130.12 total segment score, 74.91 technical elements score, 55.21 program components score.
7. Emilia Nemirovsky: 123.44 total segment score, 65.93 technical elements score, 57.51 program components score.
8. Sherry Zhang: 119.25 total segment score, 60.55 technical elements score, 59.70 program components score.
9. Starr Andrews: 117.73 total segment score, 55.42 technical elements score, 63.31 program components score.
10. Logan Higase-Chen: 115.87 total segment score, 60.47 technical elements score, 55.40 program components score.
11. Elyce Lin-Gracey: 109.52 total segment score, 52.12 technical elements score, 57.40 program components score.
12. Katie Shen: 108.65 total segment score, 58.03 technical elements score, 50.62 program components score.
13. Brooke Gewalt: 102.40 total segment score, 51.15 technical elements score, 52.25 program components score.
14. Alina Bonillo: 101.05 total segment score, 46.31 technical elements score, 54.74 program components score.
15. Sonja Hilmer: 100.25 total segment score, 48.97 technical elements score, 52.28 program components score.
16. Erica Machida: 94.85 total segment score, 49.31 technical elements score, 46.54 program components score.
17. Anabel Wallace: 91.77 total segment score, 46.67 technical elements score, 45.10 program components score.
18. Josephine Lee: 89.52 total segment score, 39.34 technical elements score, 54.18 program components score. Lee had four points deducted.

Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu on their friendship

USA TODAY Sports’ Jordan Mendoza spoke to Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu on the tight friendship they have formed. Here’s what they said.

What Liu said about Glenn: “She’s just such a big sister to me. The idea that we compete against each other, it’s so weird to me. I really just see her as one of my friends and truly one of my teammates. I don’t know, doing things with her is really fun.”

When Glenn said about Liu: “It’s been great to have someone that has such a positive outlook on skating and on her career around me. And then on the flip side, I have an extra pair of tights if she rips them and doesn’t have a backup, or I have the schedule ready because she doesn’t have it.”

Alysa Liu on how she’s handling pressure heading into Milan-Cortina

Skating legend Brian Boitano spoke with one of the top U.S. stars Alysa Liu about how she’s handling pressure heading into the 2026 Games.

Sports Seriously

1. Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov: 207.71
2. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea: 197.12
3. Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman: 187.45
4. Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe: 186.52
5. Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy: 185.10
6. Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez: 180.80
7. Olivia Flores and Luke Wang: 175.86
8. Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard: 175.56
9. Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewer: 152.86
10. Linzy Fitzpatrick and Keyton Bearinger: 151.93

Here are the pairs free skate scores.

1. Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov: 132.40 total segment score, 66.01 technical elements score, 67.39 program components score.
2. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea: 129.99 total segment score, 64.51 technical elements score, 66.48 program components score.
3. Emily Chan and Spence Akira Howe: 127.23 total segment score, 62.88 technical elements score, 64.35 program components score.
4. Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman: 120.43 total segment score, 62.59 technical elements score, 60.05 program components score.
5. Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy: 117.43 total segment score, 54.49 technical elements score, 62.94 program components score.
6. Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez: 113.77 total segment score, 57.40 technical elements score, 58.37 program components score. They had 2 points deducted due to falls.
7. Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard: 113.22 total segment score, 57.97 technical elements score, 56.25 program components score.
8. Olivia Flores and Luke Wang: 112.28 total segment score, 56.47 technical elements score, 55.81 program components score. Flores and Wang had to wait to start their free skate after they noticed a hole in the ice. They informed an official and a crew came out to fill it up, making sure there was no problem for the pair to skate. It was a quick fix that took less than a minute to address. “No big deal,” Wang said after the skate.
9. Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewer: 97.77 total segment score, 46.55 technical elements score, 51.22 program components score.
10. Linky Fitzpatrick and Jeyton Bearinger: 97.37 total segment score, 49.32 technical elements score, 48.05 program components score.

The opening ceremony for the Milano Cortina Games is Feb. 6. The closing ceremony is Feb. 22.

Where are 2026 U.S. figure skating championships?

• Dates: Jan. 7-11
• Location: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Missouri

The 2026 U.S. figure skating championships are Jan. 7-11 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. 

The team will be named on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. Three men and three women singles skaters will be chosen, as will three ice dance teams and two pairs, 16 athletes in all. The USFS selection process includes past performances, focusing on the athlete’s body of work over the past two seasons.

Types of figure skating jumps

• Toe jump: A skater drives the toe pick of their non-takeoff foot into the ice to launch themselves into the air and generate momentum into the jump.
  • Toe loop: A skater takes off backward and lands on the same back edge of their blade.
  • Lutz: A skater moving backward jumps off the back outside edge of their skate and uses the toe-pick of their other skate to catapult into the air in the opposite direction and lands on the back outside edge of the picking leg.
  • Flip: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of the other skate.
• Edge jump: A skater takes off not with their toe pick but off the edge of their skate.
  • Salchow: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of their other skate.
  • Axel: The only forward-facing jump, a skater lands on the back outside edge of their non-takeoff foot while traveling backward. The axel is the hardest jump because of the extra half-revolution that comes with a forward takeoff and a backward landing.
  • Loop: The skater jumps off a back outside edge of their skate and lands on the same edge.