ST. LOUIS — It has been 20 years since an American woman has won an Olympic figure skating medal, but if the stellar performances in the women’s short program Wednesday night at the U.S. championships are any indication of what’s to come at the 2026 Winter Olympics, that drought is about to end.
If you haven’t been following figure skating, get to know these three names: Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito. One after another, those three — the top three women’s skaters in the nation — turned in consecutive flawless programs, finishing with a majestic skate by Glenn, the two-time defending national champion.
Glenn, who at the advanced skating age of 26 is trying to qualify for her first Olympic team, landed one of the most scintillating triple axels ever by a woman on her way to a new U.S. short-program record score, 83.05 points.
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How good was the skating on the opening night of the national championships? Glenn broke the previous record of 81.11 points — set all of 10 minutes earlier by Liu, 20, the reigning world champion.
Between the two was another strong performance, this one by Isabeau Levito, 18, who finished third with 75.72 points.
The trio, dear friends who finish each other’s sentences and jokes, fed off each other on what arguably was the finest night of U.S. women’s short-program skating ever.
“The vibes were great today,” Glenn said. “It just kept going up and up and up and up. I’m very happy that I got to keep it going up. I felt a responsibility to keep it going better and better and better.”
Levito, the 2023 national champion, said it all felt “like a big show.” As Levito skated, Liu, who had just come off the ice, decided not to head through the curtains to go backstage as almost all skaters do but instead stand near the ice and watch her fellow competitor.
“I like watching them skate, so I’m going to watch them,” said Liu, who was the youngest U.S. women’s champion ever at 13, then retired at 16, only to come back two years later. “So many people pay to watch. I’m going to be here and watch for free from really close to the ice.”
As for her performance, Liu let out a little yell as she described it later. “I feel over the moon right now. I’m just so happy about it.”
There was happiness everywhere. “Of course I feel ecstatic,” Glenn said. “The score was huge.”
So was the night, because even though there still is a long program to be skated Friday night, it was clear that for the first time in almost a generation, U.S. women skaters will be heading into an Olympic Games where the future is suddenly quite bright and the possibilities seemingly endless.
