Amber Glenn triumphed over neck discomfort to outshine her world champion U.S. counterpart Alysa Liu and secure victory at the figure skating Cup of China for the second consecutive year in Chongqing. The U.S. national champion, Glenn, visibly held her neck post her free skate routine, where she bounced back from a shaky triple toeloop landing early on.
Initially in third place after Friday’s short program, Glenn had to await Liu and Japan’s Rinka Watanabe’s free skate performances to determine her final standing. Liu slipped to second with a total of 212.07 points, trailing Glenn’s 214.78 after an unstable triple flip landing. Watanabe managed to hold onto the podium, finishing third with the fifth-best score in the free skate.
Expressing her elation, Glenn described her feelings as “incredible” and expressed excitement for herself and her teammate to secure the top two spots on the podium. While Liu has claimed two world championship medals, this marks her first time on a Grand Prix event podium.
In the men’s event, Japan’s Shun Sato clinched the Cup of China title for the second year running, executing three quadruple jumps flawlessly in his free skate to score a total of 278.12. He stayed ahead of Italy’s Daniel Grassl, who amassed 269.43 points. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov settled for third place with 262.67 points after stumbling on his final jump.
The ice dance category saw world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates secure their first Cup of China victory after six attempts, scoring a total of 208.25 to outshine their U.S. counterparts Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, who scored 202.27. The third spot went to France’s Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud with a total score of 196.60.
In the pairs event, Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava claimed the gold with a score of 217.24, followed by Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii in second place, and China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the 2022 Olympic champions who recently returned from retirement, in third.
The Cup of China serves as the second event in the six-part regular season Grand Prix series leading up to the final in December, serving as a significant trial for skaters aiming for success at the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February. The ISU Grand Prix series will move to Saskatoon for the Skate Canada International event starting on October 31.