National champion Amber Glenn is .02 off the lead after the Cup of China short program. She can become the first U.S. woman to win two Grand Prix starts in one season in 12 years.
Japan’s Mone Chiba tallied 70.86 points to lead going into Saturday’s free skate, airing live on Peacock. Chiba already owns the second-best total score among all women over the first five events of the six-event Grand Prix Series regular season.
Glenn, who has the third-best total score this Grand Prix season, is just behind.
She has now landed a triple Axel in three consecutive events to start the season, though Friday’s was judged a quarter turn short and given a slightly negative grade of execution (-0.34). Glenn then stumbled out of the landing and put her hands on the ice on the back half of a triple flip-triple toe loop combination.
CUP OF CHINA: Broadcast Schedule
“I haven’t felt my best since I’ve been here so I’ve been just really focused on the mental side and staying strong in that,” Glenn said, according to the International Skating Union.
Glenn, 25, earned her first career Grand Prix win in France earlier this month. She can become the fifth U.S. woman to win two Grand Prix events in one season after Michelle Kwan (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999), Sasha Cohen (2002, 2003), Alissa Czisny (2010) and Ashley Wagner (2012). The series debuted in 1995.
In the Grand Prix Series, top skaters compete twice each over the six-event regular season in October and November, all scattered among different competitions.
The top six per discipline over the regular season qualify for December’s Grand Prix Final, the first event of the season to gather all of the world’s top-ranked skaters. The Final is often a preview of the following March’s world championships.
Glenn will qualify for her first Grand Prix Final if she places in the top three at Cup of China and could also make it by finishing lower depending on how other skaters finish. The Cup of China short program was very close with the top five separated by 1.78 points.
Also at Cup of China, two-time world medalists Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy lead after the rhythm dance and are in position to clinch a spot in the Final.
Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha are second, 2.31 points ahead of U.S. silver medalists Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Two Grand Prix Final ice dance spots are up for grabs at Cup of China. Carreira and Ponomarenko must finish ahead of at least one of Guignard and Fabbri and Lajoie and Lagha for a chance to make their first Final.
2024 Cup of China Figure Skating Results
Women’s Short Program
1. Mone Chiba (JPN) — 70.86
2. Amber Glenn (USA) -- 70.84
3. Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) -- 70.48
4. Kim Chae-Yeon (KOR) -- 69.27
5. Rinka Watanabe (JPN) -- 69.08
6. Kimmy Repond (SUI) -- 67.71
7. Kim Min-Chae (KOR) -- 62.94
8. Madeline Schizas (CAN) -- 61.10
9. An Xiangyi (CHN) -- 60.10
10. Zhu Yi (CHN) -- 58.36
11. Anastasiia Gubanova (GEO) -- 52.11
12. Chen Hongyi (CHN) -- 45.81
Men’s Short Program
1. Shun Sato (JPN) -- 98.75
2. Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) -- 93.21
3. Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) -- 91.22
4. Nika Egadze (GEO) -- 87.73
5. Matteo Rizzo (ITA) -- 84.92
6. Jin Boyang (CHN) -- 83.66
7. Dai Daiwei (CHN) -- 82.96
8. Chen Yudong (CHN) -- 77.73
9. Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT) -- 75.75
10. Nikolaj Memola (ITA) -- 68.87
11. Kim Hyun-Gyeom (KOR) -- 67.76
WD. Wesley Chiu (CAN)
Pairs’ Short Program
1. Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii (ITA) -- 72.43
2. Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin (GER) -- 68.44
3. Lia Pereira/Trennt Michaud (CAN) -- 66.90
4. Ioulia Chtchetinina/Michal Wozniak (POL) -- 61.11
5. Wang Yuchen/Zhu Lei (CHN) -- 55.14
6. Camille Kovalev/Pavel Kovalev (FRA) -- 54.01
7. Isabella Gomez/Aleksandr Korovin (PHI) -- 50.65
8. Katie McBeath/Daniil Parkman (USA) -- 42.67
Rhythm Dance
1. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) — 84.84
2. Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha (CAN) -- 81.53
3. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) -- 79.22
4. Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis (FIN) -- 77.80
5. Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck (ESP) -- 75.96
6. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (USA) -- 75.63
7. Loicia Demougeot/Theo le Mercier (FRA) -- 73.50
8. Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin (GEO) -- 70.53
9. Ren Junfei/Xing Jianing (CHN) -- 61.64
10. Xiao Zixi/He Linghao (CHN) -- 59.96
