U.S. Women [#8]: Meet Me in St. Louis

[Sylvia]

NYT's The Athletic feature article on Amber by Marcus Thompson II (Feb. 4, 2026):

Amber Glenn, U.S. figure skating Olympic gold hopeful, got here the only way she could

Most figure skaters don't find their best form at 26. Glenn isn't most skaters. She just needed to find her way on her time.

www.nytimes.com

Excerpt:

Glenn has spent much of her career in a wide, frustrating space in figure skating. That place where talent is undeniable but transcendence keeps its distance. Glenn could always be described as a great skater. Pretty good skaters don’t win junior national championships at 14. But this sport reserves its greatest rewards for the exceptional while demanding so much that exceptional seems the only acceptable payoff.
Glenn landed the hard jumps, trained through the pain, endured the anvil that is expectations, year after year, yet got close enough to the summit only to confirm she didn’t reach it.
Figure skating is ruthless that way. It doesn’t just measure what skaters can do, it penalizes what they didn’t. It constantly reminds them of perfection not attained. For Glenn, the imperfection lay with her identity. The ceiling thwarting her exceptional talent originated from the constraints of tradition. She tried. Softened her edges, so to speak. Sharpened her skating. The difference between great and the best in figure skating exists in the margins, often small enough to be microscopic.
But while adding a clean triple axel to her repertoire in 2023 elevated her to another level, Glenn’s real elevation came from within. When she stopped expending energy on concealing her intensity, her aura, her truth.
“I didn’t fit the mold, and I tried so hard to fit into it,” Glenn said. “And once I accepted that just wasn’t going to happen, honestly, I started to kind of lean into it a bit more. I just let myself be me. And through that, I was able to find a new, unique shape that hadn’t been taken before.”

ETA link to Alice Park's TIME article (Feb. 4):

How Figure Skater Amber Glenn Took Control of Her Life

After leaving competitive skating for a few months as a teen, the three-time national champion is making her Olympic debut

time.com

Excerpt:

Competing at local competitions, she says, “felt like life or death.” And it didn’t help that her entire world was skating, so everyone around her fed off the same mentality of striving for perfection and never being satisfied. “That was our normal. Our coaches would pit us against each other, and at 10 years old, we were forced to have this competitiveness and comparison—it’s so toxic,” she says.
Glenn developed an eating disorder, and her anxiety worsened. She intuitively realized that she could not continue in such an unhealthy environment, but felt powerless to change. “I wouldn’t be able to skate,” she says. “I was miserable. I felt like I didn’t belong with the elite [skaters] but I also didn’t have the experience of being ‘normal’ either. A lot of my friends had gone off, started high school and were doing other things. And I was stuck here. I thought I wasn’t going anywhere and got into this severe depression where I didn’t want to keep living—I didn’t want to do anything.”
Glenn saw a psychiatrist who prescribed an antidepressant, but she didn’t have a good reaction to the medication. She wasn’t eating properly or sleeping well either, which further aggravated her fragile mental state. It was one of Glenn’s closest friends who realized her friend was drowning and spoke to Glenn’s parents.
“It did come as a shock to my parents,” Glenn says. “They thought it was just me stressing out over skating, when it was a lot more than that.” Even then Glenn was reluctant to admit that she needed help, since, she says, “growing up in Texas, there wasn’t mental health. It just wasn’t a thing. It was ‘Stop crying, get up, and do your job.’ It couldn’t be more different now. But in 2015, it wasn’t really thought of much.”

 

[BittyBug]

Gift link for the NYT article on Amber:

Amber Glenn, U.S. figure skating Olympic gold hopeful, got here the only way she could

Most figure skaters don't find their best form at 26. Glenn isn't most skaters. She just needed to find her way on her time.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Sylvia]

A really big article in the Washington Post this AM on Alysa and her creative process on her Olympic program:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/interactive/2026/alysa-liu-milan-cortina-olympics-figure-skating/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f010

This is by Les Carpenter who was laid off by WaPo yesterday - his colleague, who is with him in Milan, was not laid off and posted this morning: https://x.com/RickMaese/status/2019424662875418705

My friend @Lescarpenter was up early and reported to our WaPo office in Milan this morning, one day after our storied Sports department was dismantled. We talked the whole commute about Olympic stories he's still excited to do. And I can't wait to read them.
He had another exquisite piece this morning on figure skater Alysa Liu, "who pinballs through life like a TikTok scroll, a rush of thoughts all at once, and yet composed and flawless in competition when she turns off the noise."

 

[Bulletsdad]

Delete

 

[Bulletsdad]

Does anyone know if Alysa went to Bergamo for the day? I don't see her in today's practice notes.

 

[Karen-W]

Does anyone know if Alysa went to Bergamo for the day? I don't see her in today's practice notes.

Some of the US skaters had a day off from training - not sure if they went to Bergamo or not, but they weren't at the official practices. Ilia was also a no-show at both practices today.

 

[Allskate]

Here is Time magazine's piece on Isabeau. She says that she is intent on getting the triple axel.

Meet the Youngest Member of the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team

Isabeu Levito has dreamed of the Winter Games since she was a toddler

time.com

 

[Sylvia]

ELLE article on Alysa by Kayla Webley Adler; Photographed by Rona Liana Ahdout; Styled by Carson Stannard (Published: Feb. 5, 2026):

Alysa Liu on Her Return to Figure Skating and the 2026 Winter Olympics

After a stunning comeback, the figure-skating phenom is Olympics-bound and happier than ever. That matters more to her than any medal.

www.elle.com

(link also is posted in Alysa's fan thread)

 

[Allskate]

Adam Rippon interviewed Alysa and Amber (and C&B) in Milan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ1RKOD3mTE

Also, I don't remember if this has been posted here before, but here is a profile of a bunch of the American figure skaters, including Alysa, Amber, and Isabeau:

Quad God and the Blade Angels: is the new USA Dream Team a group of figure skaters?

The US enter the team event as hot favorites: powered by world champions, rising stars and a generation determined to push figure skating beyond its traditional audience

www.theguardian.com

 

[Bulletsdad]

Just saying hi to my kitty cats and this is my most frequented thread. I saw an ice-skating show last night and one of the figure skaters I swear to gosh look like Ashley Cain, but I was told they are all eastern European figure skaters.

I sailed on the Liberty of the Seas in Dec 2014. Amelie Lacoste was one of show skaters. She also helped manage and gave lessons at the rink. She was even involved in the Safety Drill. I asked for her autograph, and she was so pleased to be recognized.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I adored Amelie Lacoste's skating. She was so smooth live.

Just realized this is the US Women's thread, not the Canadian Women's thread.

 

[Bulletsdad]

I adored Amelie Lacoste's skating. She was so smooth live.

Just realized this is the US Women's thread, not the Canadian Women's thread.

Well, since I was replying to a cruise ship anecdote, It's probably okay.

 

[Jayar]

I was on a gay cruise in Europe a couple of years back, and I was looking at underwear in a pop up shop when I looked up at the young women going through the harnesses. And then I realize that one of them was Angela Wang. She was completely shocked to be recognized and then my husband came over and she was like 'Hi JR's husband' because she remembered him.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

I was on a gay cruise in Europe a couple of years back, and I was looking at underwear in a pop up shop when I looked up at the young women going through the harnesses. And then I realize that one of them was Angela Wang. She was completely shocked to be recognized and then my husband came over and she was like 'Hi JR's husband' because she remembered him.

I liked Angela Wang`s skating. Sorry she couldn`t get it going further. Didn`t she do cruise ships for a while? Christina Gao was another lovely skater that should have gone further.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

and I was looking at underwear in a pop up shop

Guuuurllll, the Spanish line of underwear, addicted, pop-up store is all over deck number five… Although all the stores have to close while we are in port which I found interesting.

And yes, by the way, I do love a good thread derailment.

Tee-hee

 

[olympic]

I liked Angela Wang`s skating. Sorry she couldn`t get it going further. Didn`t she do cruise ships for a while? Christina Gao was another lovely skater that should have gone further.

The number of US women who could shoulda woulda from 2007 to say 2021 is legion! And while she had an Olympic / World medal count, we can back up a bit to include Sasha from 2003-06, who splatted at horribly inopportune moments thus never standing atop the podium. I had never been so frustrated at any time as a FS fan than watching US women at that time.

When I see Alysa, Isabeau, and Amber (more and more) just hit hit hit, I am still in disbelief at times. I still see the other Alyssa (Czisny) as our #1 skater skate like a baby giraffe, so adorable yet so groan-inducing.

 

[orbitz]

I'd say Angela Nikodinov was the most frustrating skater to watch (and probably also the most frustrating to coach) during the 1998 - 2002 cycle. I will never understand the mentality that would cause any elite, world class skater to immediately double every jump after just one mistake on a triple.

 

[olympic]

I'd say Angela Nikodinov was the most frustrating skater to watch (and probably also the most frustrating to coach) during the 1998 - 2002 cycle. I will never understand the mentality that would cause any elite, world class skater to immediately double every jump after just one mistake on a triple.

But we've seen it before by others.

I agree though that Angela had so much potential -> I think it was at 2000 NHK (?) where she and Sarah Hughes competed against one another and the international judges placed Angela w/ a doubled jump ahead of a clean Sarah in the SP. I hope I am not misremembering

 

[Vagabond]

A Sasha Cohen Free Skate without splats at inopportune moments is a contradiction in terms.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I adored Amelie Lacoste's skating. She was so smooth live.

Just realized this is the US Women's thread, not the Canadian Women's thread.

I saw her in person at the 2009 Four Continents Championships in Vancouver, and I would completely agree.

An elegant skater with a classic style.

 

[Sylvia]

Adam Rippon interviewed Alysa and Amber (and C&B) in Milan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ1RKOD3mTE

This looks like the Team USA Athlete Summit in NYC in late October 2025.

Fingers crossed that Amber has put herself in a protective bubble before her Team FS today (see her fan thread for the reason why) and will have a successful Olympic debut!

ETA that Amber is warming up on Peacock's live practice stream right now (AmberCam time ).

 

[ice coverage]

Throwing back to 2026 Nats:

Until Nick McCarvel's Instagram album posted today, I had not seen his cool photo of Amber and Alysa with Tenley Albright, as they all look together at the scoring screen for Alysa's Nats FS.
Icing on the cake: Based on the commemorative patch on Tenley's sleeve, I wonder whether she could be wearing an original jacket from 1956 Olympics in Cortina, where she won gold.

Nick McCarvel on Instagram: "My 13th season covering #figureskating ⛸️ still don’t understand all the intricacies of this global sequined fortress but what I *do* get is these athletes train their asses off, love what they do, and wanna share it w th

322 likes, 5 comments - nickmccarvel on February 7, 2026: "My 13th season covering #figureskating ⛸️ still don’t understand all the intricacies of this global sequined fortress but what I *do* get is these athletes train their asses off, love what they do, and wanna share it w the world...

www.instagram.com

(fifth photo)​

Best wishes to Amber in Team Event FS!

 

[Allskate]

Icing on the cake: Based on the commemorative patch on Tenley's sleeve, I wonder whether she could be wearing an original jacket from 1956 Olympics in Cortina, where she won gold.

They said during the Nationals broadcast that she was.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I just love this woman, she’s so mature, so insightful, I can’t believe she’s 18 or 19, if I would hear her speak and not know who she was I would think I’m listening to a 45 year.

Unfiltered Waters on Instagram: "“I want them to feel a different emotion than they’ve ever felt before.” Alysa Liu explains why skating is her version of cinema. #UnfilteredWaters #FrozenWaters #WinterOlympics #FigureSkating"

3,973 likes, 14 comments - unfilteredwaterspodcast on February 8, 2026: "“I want them to feel a different emotion than they’ve ever felt before.” Alysa Liu explains why skating is her version of cinema. #UnfilteredWaters #FrozenWaters #WinterOlympics #FigureSkating".

www.instagram.com

 

[Taso]

I just love this woman, she’s so mature, so insightful, I can’t believe she’s 18 or 19, if I would hear her speak and not know who she was I would think I’m listening to a 45 year.

Unfiltered Waters on Instagram: "“I want them to feel a different emotion than they’ve ever felt before.” Alysa Liu explains why skating is her version of cinema. #UnfilteredWaters #FrozenWaters #WinterOlympics #FigureSkating"

3,973 likes, 14 comments - unfilteredwaterspodcast on February 8, 2026: "“I want them to feel a different emotion than they’ve ever felt before.” Alysa Liu explains why skating is her version of cinema. #UnfilteredWaters #FrozenWaters #WinterOlympics #FigureSkating".

www.instagram.com

She is 20 (and a half), but yes!!!

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Alysa and Amber’s Olympic crushes, very cool. I did not know about Hernandez..

SELF on Instagram: "Love is in the air—or should we say, in the Olympic Village 😚 Twist our arm, we’ll play matchmaker 👀 SELF has some Winter and Summer athletes to set up. #MilanoCortina2026 #Olympics"

4,355 likes, 7 comments - selfmagazine on February 9, 2026: "Love is in the air—or should we say, in the Olympic Village 😚 Twist our arm, we’ll play matchmaker 👀 SELF has some Winter and Summer athletes to set up. #MilanoCortina2026 #Olympics".

www.instagram.com

And I love that Alysa and Amber together are both changing the definition of US ice princess.

Paola La on Instagram: "Alysa Liu is a cultural reset for figure skating and will be this #olympics breakout star. #figureskating #billieilish #alysaliu #winterolympics"

646 likes, 3 comments - paolala_fs on February 9, 2026: "Alysa Liu is a cultural reset for figure skating and will be this #olympics breakout star. #figureskating #billieilish #alysaliu #winterolympics".

www.instagram.com

It does make me feel sorry for skaters like Surya and Tonya stuck in the 90s with ice princess restraints.

 

[Taso]

It does make me feel sorry for skaters like Surya and Tonya stuck in the 90s with ice princess restraints.

Yes, them plus Midori...been thinking of this a lot lately. And what if these ladies, especially Tonya, had had an Amber Glenn around? Heck maybe Surya could've cried on her shoulder instead of the podium moment at 94 worlds.

I also...just with recently learning about how Amber was criticized for smiling when landing jumps as a child so she doesn't...made me think of the power of a heartfelt smile. I don't know jf Tonya was coached to not smile after jumps (and I dont know if she was), but how sad it would be if she had felt she shouldn't burst forward with the biggest smile I may have ever seen in the sport after landing her first triple axel at US Nats in 1991. Tonya skated the rest of the program with her heart on her sleeve, and like Amber she was so often reserved, and it is one of my favorite skating performances of all time because of it.

 

[Sylvia]

I just love this woman, she’s so mature, so insightful, I can’t believe she’s 18 or 19, if I would hear her speak and not know who she was I would think I’m listening to a 45 year.

Unfiltered Waters on Instagram: "“I want them to feel a different emotion than they’ve ever felt before.” Alysa Liu explains why skating is her version of cinema. #UnfilteredWaters #FrozenWaters #WinterOlympics #FigureSkating"

3,973 likes, 14 comments - unfilteredwaterspodcast on February 8, 2026: "“I want them to feel a different emotion than they’ve ever felt before.” Alysa Liu explains why skating is her version of cinema. #UnfilteredWaters #FrozenWaters #WinterOlympics #FigureSkating".

www.instagram.com

ICYMI I posted the link to Alysa's full, 10-minute podcast interview (recorded at St. Louis Nationals) in her fan thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/alysa-liu-cheer-fan-thread.106483/page-7#post-6882072

Fletcher Mackel of NBC New Orleans took photos with Amber & Alysa on Sunday night (before Alysa's medal came off the ribbon! From her fan thread: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUhXmhOiEVG/):

Fletcher Mackel on Instagram: "Sunday night @teamusa figure skating ⛸️ became the first nation to ever win back-to-back gold medals 🥇 🥇 in the team event. Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu helped lead the way."

109 likes, 2 comments - fletchermackel on February 9, 2026: "Sunday night @teamusa figure skating ⛸️ became the first nation to ever win back-to-back gold medals 🥇 🥇 in the team event. Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu helped lead the way.".

www.instagram.com

ETA that on Monday Alysa explained that it came off as she was jumping up & down on the podium and so she got a replacement medal for media day:

KCRA on Instagram: "Oakland figure skater Alysa Liu secured her first gold medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Monday. Deirdre Fitzpatrick caught up with her in Milan, where her medal is giving her some trouble."

202 likes, 1 comments - kcranews on February 9, 2026: "Oakland figure skater Alysa Liu secured her first gold medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Monday. Deirdre Fitzpatrick caught up with her in Milan, where her medal is giving her some trouble.".

www.instagram.com

Amber & Alysa were on the TODAY Show earlier today with Ellie & Danny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T1p2cYrG7E