Amber Glenn tops field of 5 Japanese women's skaters to lead in Grand Prix Final
American athlete takes advantage of Kaori Sakamoto fall in short program in France
Competing with five Japanese skaters in the six-woman field, Amber Glenn of the United States continued her breakout season in figure skating by taking the lead in the short program at the Grand Prix Final on Thursday as world champion Kaori Sakamoto fell.
Glenn landed the competition's only triple axel jump on her way to a score of 70.04 points in Grenoble, France.
Glenn said she "pinched a rib" on an awkward landing of the axel and "held back on the following two jumps," which both lost points on execution.
"Today I was in a really rough place competing. I didn't feel the greatest, but I feel like I stayed very mentally strong and fought for everything," she said. "And, you know, me a couple of years ago, my anxiety would have gotten to me, but I've gotten a lot better with it."
WATCH | Glenn holds lead over Japan's Mone Chiba after short program:
Glenn is in her first Grand Prix Final at the age of 25 after a strong season brought her first two career wins in the Grand Prix series. She is seeking to become the first U.S. skater to win the women's event at the Grand Prix Final since Alissa Czisny in 2010.
Mone Chiba is in second place ahead of Saturday's free skate on 69.33 — to the Donna Summer song Last Dance — while Hana Yoshida is third on 64.23.
There were no Canadians in the competition.
Three-time world champion Sakamoto seemed capable of challenging Glenn for the lead until she fell on the last jump in her program, a triple flip-triple toeloop combination and placed fourth on 63.98.
Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took a narrow lead in the pairs short program as they aim to retain the Grand Prix Final title they won last year.
Hase and Volodin skated clean to score a personal-best 76.72 for a lead of just .45 of a point from Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara after Miura underrotated a triple toeloop jump. Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava are third on 72.26 for Georgia.
World pairs champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada withdrew from the prestigious Grand Prix Final on Monday because Deschamps is recovering from an illness and unable to compete.
Stellato-Dudek, who is from Chicago but representing Canada, and Deschamps, from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., were among the favourites for the Grand Prix Final, which brings together the top six skaters and pairs in each discipline to conclude the Grand Prix season.
The couple were third at the Grand Prix Final last year, then swept the Grand Prix of Finland and defended their Skate Canada title in front of home fans this season.
The pairs competition ends with the free skate Friday.
WATCH | Asher Hill and Brenda Irving offer their Grand Prix Final predictions:
With files from The Canadian Press
