US skater Amber Glenn rebounds with a season-best free skate, finishes fifth at the Olympics

MILAN (AP) - Amber Glenn delivered a redemptive free skate at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Thursday night, turning what had been tears of disappointment and sorrow just a couple of days earlier into ones of pride and joy.

It nearly turned a hopeless night into one that ended with a medal, too.

The three-time reigning U.S. champion, whose crucial error in the short program appeared to take her out medal contention, thrust herself right back into it with a season-best free skate. Glenn's score of 214.91 was nearly the best of her long career, and it put her on top for quite a while as the final groups performed at the Winter Games.

She wound up finishing fifth behind teammate Alysa Liu, the first gold medalist for the U.S. in 24 years, and the Japanese trio of silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto, bronze medalist Ami Nakai and fourth-place finisher Mone Chiba.

"I'm ecstatic. I'm happy that I did my job," said the 26-year-old Glenn, who nevertheless will come away from the Olympics with a gold medal from the team event. "Of course there's so much that I wish I could have done better, and there's going to be so many 'what ifs?' after this. But to tell myself that I did what I could, that's enough."

Glenn threw a defiant punch to the air as her music came to a close, then tears began to flow as her coach, Damon Allen, enveloped her in a hug. And when her score was read, both of them raised their arms in a moment of unbridled happiness.

"I just thought, 'I'm going to do what I do best, which is enjoy skating,'" Glenn said, "and that's what I did today."

Glenn was among the favorites in the individual event. She had been consistently competing for the top step of the podium ever since the 2022 Beijing Games, when a positive COVID-19 test kept her out of the U.S. championships and spoiled any chance of going.

She was fourth at the prestigious Grand Prix Final in December and won her latest national title just last month.

Yet the outspoken LGBTQ+ activist was left fighting back tears Tuesday night, when a major mistake on a triple loop cost her so many points that she was in 13th place - and skating roughly two hours before the leaders stepped on the ice.

"It wasn't easy," Glenn said of the two days between her programs. "There's been a bombardment of attacks and hate on me, using my lackluster performance as fuel for hate, and that was disheartening."

Yet the way the crowd roared after her performance no doubt made her heart swell.

It also earned her a seat in the leader's chair, which is new for the Milan Cortina Games, for about 90 minutes.

She watched the ice get resurfaced, a blanket draped over her legs. She stood and encouraged the crowd to clap for Sofia Samodelkina, who was born in Russia but competes for Kazakhstan, after her skate, and applauded those who came afterward. She even gave up a big hug to American teammate Isabeau Levito, who fell on her opening triple flip and was unable to put together the kind of free skate that would get her into the mix.

One by one, those who had performed better than Glenn on Tuesday night walked past her as she sat in the leader's chair.

It wasn't until Chiba finally took the ice that Glenn was knocked from her lofty perch. Liu followed the Japanese skater with her golden free skate, while Sakamoto and Nakai ultimately pushed Glenn down to fifth place in the final standings.

That didn't stop Glenn from celebrating when Liu was crowned the Olympic champion.

She immediately hopped onto the kiss-and-cry stand to raise her teammate's hand in victory.

It felt like a victory for both of them.