Amber Glenn triumphed over neck discomfort to outperform her United States teammate, Alysa Liu, and clinch the figure skating Cup of China for the second consecutive year on Saturday in Chongqing. As the U.S. national champion, Glenn grasped her neck post her free skate routine, where she bounced back from an unsteady triple toeloop landing early on.
Initially ranking third after Friday’s short program, Glenn patiently awaited Liu and Japan’s Rinka Watanabe to complete their free skates to determine her final placement. Liu slid into second place with a total of 212.07 points, trailing Glenn’s 214.78 after stumbling on a triple flip, while Watanabe barely managed to secure third position after earning the fifth-highest score for her free skate.
Expressing her elation, Glenn described feeling “incredible” and eagerly anticipated sharing the podium with her teammate. Despite being a two-time world championship medalist, this was Liu’s first time standing on a Grand Prix event podium.
In the men’s event, Japan’s Shun Sato defended his Cup of China title by executing three quadruple jumps flawlessly in his free skate, accumulating a total of 278.12 points, surpassing Italy’s Daniel Grassl at 269.43. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov settled for third place with 262.67 points after a mishap on his final jump.
World champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates secured their first Cup of China victory after six attempts in ice dance, achieving a total score of 208.25 to outshine their U.S. counterparts Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik at 202.27. The third spot was claimed by Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud of France with a score of 196.60.
Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava clinched the pairs gold with a score of 217.24. Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii secured the second position, while China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the 2022 Olympic champions who recently returned from retirement, landed in third place.
The Cup of China serves as the second of six regular season Grand Prix events leading up to a final event in December, providing a crucial evaluation for skaters eyeing medals at the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February. The ISU Grand Prix series will move to Saskatoon for Skate Canada International starting on October 31.