Background and career
Amber Elaine Glenn (born October 28, 1999) is an American figure skater. She is a 2026 Olympic Games team event gold medalist, the 2024–25 Grand Prix Final champion, a three-time U.S. national champion (2024–26), a six-time ISU Grand Prix medalist, and a five-time ISU Challenger Series medalist. She has also finished within the top ten at five ISU Championships. Early in her career, she won bronze medals at two ISU Junior Grand Prix events (2013 JGP Czech Republic, 2014 JGP France) and was the 2014 U.S. Junior champion. She is the fourth American woman to land a clean triple axel in international competition. Glenn is the first American woman to win three consecutive U.S. National titles since Michelle Kwan (2003–05). Upon her selection for the 2026 Winter Olympics, she became the first openly queer woman to represent the United States in Olympic figure skating. Additionally, at age 26, she was the oldest American woman to qualify for an Olympic singles team since 1928. She is also the fifth woman to land a triple Axel at a Winter Olympic Games.
Glenn first began skating at the age of five at an ice rink inside the Stonebriar Centre Mall. She was inspired to pursue the sport competitively after watching Sarah Hughes win the gold medal in women's singles at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Her coaches, Ann Brumbaugh and Ben Shroats, described her as a determined, passionate, and athletic skater who at times struggled with perfectionism. Within one year of skating, Glenn had landed the axel jump. By age eleven, Glenn had landed all triple jumps except the axel. To afford the high costs associated with competitive figure skating, her father, Richard, worked up to 30 hours of overtime per week along with various side jobs, while her mother, Cathlene, worked at the ice rink and served as a nanny for Glenn's coach to receive discounted lessons. The family also reduced costs by purchasing used blades and costumes second-hand through eBay. Competing in the novice category, Glenn placed second at the 2012 U.S. Championships behind Karen Chen. The next year, Glenn competed at the junior level, placing seventh in the short program and sixth in the free skate for an overall fifth place finish.
At the 2013 ISU Junior Grand Prix in the Czech Republic, Glenn made her junior international debut. Glenn finished third overall, winning the bronze medal. Glenn qualified for the 2014 U.S. Championships after winning the 2014 Midwestern Sectional Championships title at the junior level. At the U.S. Championships, Glenn placed first in both segments of the competition to win the national title. Her total score of 186.51 was, at the time, the highest ever recorded for a junior lady at the U.S. Championships under the ISU Judging System. Glenn later noted that the expectations following her title win contributed to subsequent challenges with her mental health. This pressure was intensified by the success of the junior champions from the prior two years, Gracie Gold and Polina Edmunds, both of whom had successfully transitioned from their junior success to the 2014 Olympic team. Ranked fifth in the short program and eighth in the free skate, she finished seventh at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In May 2014, U.S. Figure Skating named Glenn as the recipient of the 2014 Athlete Alumni Ambassador (3A) overall award. In August, she won bronze at the 2014 JGP in France. She finished sixth at her second JGP assignment in Estonia and thirteenth on the senior level at the 2015 U.S. Championships.
Glenn began the 2015–2016 season training in McKinney, Texas under Ann Brumbaugh and Ben Shroats. At the junior level, she placed fifth at the 2015 JGP Latvia. Afterwards, struggles with depression, an eating disorder, and her sexuality led to Glenn being admitted for inpatient treatment. In a later interview, she said that she was told her sexuality was unimportant instead of being offered help with understanding it, something she found hurtful. With her first international senior assignment at the 2015 Autumn Classic International pending, she decided to leave the facility to attend. She would later describe the event as a "disaster" that she had no memory of beyond her sixth-place finish. Glenn announced that she would take a break to "reevaluate". In a 2024 profile in The Washington Post, she revealed that her psychiatrist had told her to stop skating indefinitely. She resumed training in February 2016 after joining Peter Cain and Darlene Cain in Euless, which is situated halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. One of her training mates there was non-binary skater Timothy LeDuc, who Glenn credited with helping her to accept her sexuality and identity.
Glenn placed fifth at the 2016 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, fourth at the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, and eighth at the 2017 U.S. Championships. She was selected to compete at the 2017 World Junior Championships but withdrew in early March due to "personal reasons."
