CHONGQING, China (AP) — Amber Glenn of the United States performed a personal-best free skate on Saturday to win the Cup of China and secure a spot in the Grand Prix Final.
Skating to “I Will Find You The Return,” Glenn, second after the short program, opened with a clean triple axel and reeled off six clean triples to overtake Japan’s Mone Chiba with a personal-best score of 144.70 for a total of 215.54 points.
“I’m very excited that I’ve been able to show consistency throughout these Grand Prix and the season so far and that was my main goal,” said Glenn, the U.S. champion.
Along with her victory at the Grand Prix of France, the result in China means Glenn qualified for her first GP Final, which will be held Dec. 5-8 in Grenoble, France where she will face five Japanese opponents.
“I’m just so thrilled to be competing against such incredible athletes that I respect and I think they are absolutely amazing,” the 25-year-old Texan said. “It’s unreal to me to be considered at that standard and at that level.”
Glenn became just the fifth U.S. woman to win two Grand Prix gold medals in a single season and the first since Ashley Wagner in 2012.
Chiba looked like she would hold on to her slim lead from the short program but fell in the step sequence late in her routine which cost her valuable points.
The Japanese skater finished second with 211.91 points but also secured a place in the Grand Prix Final.
“All the seven jumps got a positive grade of execution and all jumps were fully rotated,” Chiba said. “I made a mistake in the step sequence. I lost my balance. This is something I should improve for the Grand Prix Final.”
Kim Chae-yeon of South Korea also skated a clean program and was third with 208.47 points.
Kaori Sakamoto, Higuchi Wakaba, Hana Yoshida and Rino Matsuike are the other Japan women to qualify for the GP Final.
In the men’s event, Japan’s Shun Sato barely held on to his lead from the short program, landing three quadruple jumps to finish with a total of 278.48 points.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan landed four quad jumps and finished first in the free skate but his second place finish in the short program meant that he was second overall with 276.17 points.
Adam Siao Him Fa of France touched down on a triple toeloop and over-rotated a triple axel and finished third with 252.53 points.
In ice dance, two-time world medalists Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy won the free dance to finish the competition with 209.13 points and secure a place in their fourth Grand Prix Final.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada took the silver with 205.16 points while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the United States won bronze with 198.18.
In the pairs, European champions Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy won the free skating to finish first overall with a total of 211.05 points.
World bronze medalists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany were second with 209.36 points. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada finished third with 188.74.
The Cup of China is the sixth and last event of the International Skating Union’s Grand Prix series. A total of 60 skaters and couples representing 16 countries competed.
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