Americans Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu won the two biggest figure skating events last season.
In their first head-to-head this season, they went one-two at Cup of China in each’s first top-level competition of the Olympic season.
Glenn, last year’s Grand Prix Final champion, overcame a 1.57-point deficit from Friday’s short program to Liu, last season’s world champion.
Glenn totaled 214.78 points, edging Liu by 2.71 after Saturday’s free skate.
FIGURE SKATING: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
Glenn, one of the few senior women who performs a triple Axel, hit the jump in both the short and the free despite neck pain Saturday. Her only significant error in each program was on her triple flip-triple toe loop combination.
“I’m really proud of the way I was able to stay in the moment and get my job done out there today,” Glenn said, according to the International Skating Union (ISU). “It wasn’t a perfect skate by any means, but I was able to stay focused and get my job done, and I’m just really happy with the overall results and showing the consistency that I’ve been working on with my team in practice every day.”
Liu, after a clean short, stumbled on a triple Lutz landing in the free skate, forcing her to improvise late in her program.
She still earned the first senior Grand Prix medal of her career, having dealt with boot problems and program changes already on the young season.
“Mine was also not the perfect skate, but I had a good workout,” Liu said, according to the ISU. “I liked it that I had to think through my program when I messed up.“
Glenn and Liu gave the U.S. its second women’s one-two in a full-fledged Grand Prix in the last nine years. Ava Ziegler and Lindsey Thorngren did it at 2023 NHK Trophy.
Glenn is the first U.S. woman to win a Grand Prix in an Olympic season since Ashley Wagner in 2013. The last time U.S. women went one-two in an Olympic season Grand Prix was when Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes did so at 2001 Skate America.
It bodes well as Glenn and Liu each seek the U.S.’ first Olympic women’s singles medal since 2006. Isabeau Levito, the 2024 World silver medalist, is also a contender.
The three-woman Olympic team will be named after January’s national championships in St. Louis.
Before that, each eyes December’s Grand Prix Final, which takes the top six per discipline over the six-event Grand Prix regular season and should be an Olympic preview to some degree.
Glenn and Liu will likely make the Final with a podium finish at each’s next event in November (Grand Prix Finland for Glenn, Skate America for Liu).
The top skaters this season so far have been Japan’s Ami Nakai and three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto, who scored 227.08 and 224.23 at Grand Prix France last week.
Earlier Saturday, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the ice dance in another U.S. one-two. More on the dance competition here.
Japan’s Shun Sato repeated as Cup of China men’s champion, winning the short and the free with five quadruple jumps over two clean programs.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, the world silver medalist behind American Ilia Malinin, was third in both programs and overall. He was dinged for three under-rotated jumps over his two skates.
American Tomoki Hiwatashi was fourth with a personal best 245.71 points, an early boost to his chances of making the three-man Olympic team.
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia won the pairs’ event with the top short and free scores.
China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong were third in both programs and overall in their first competitive skates since winning the 2022 Olympic title on home ice.
Sui and Han took a step toward securing China’s lone 2026 Olympic pairs’ berth. They beat fellow Chinese pair Zhang Jiaxuan and Huang Yihang by one spot and 7.51 points at Cup of China.
Competition highlights air Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
The Grand Prix Series continues with Skate Canada next Friday through Sunday, all live on Peacock.
2025 Cup of China Results — Women’s Singles
1. Amber Glenn (USA) — 214.78
2. Alysa Liu (USA) — 212.07
3. Rinka Watanabe (JPN) — 198.63
4. Anastasiia Gubanova (GEO) — 197.88
5. Shin Ji-A (KOR) — 195.43
6. Rino Matsuike (JPN) — 188.06
7. Zhang Ruiyang (CHN) — 179.54
8. Anna Pezzetta (ITA) — 178.34
9. Lee Hae-In (KOR) — 177.32
10. Hana Yoshida (JPN) — 176.54
11. Zhu Yi (CHN) — 162.66
Madison Chock and Evan Bates have won six of their last seven Grand Prix ice dance starts.
