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After injuries and mental strife, Amber Glenn sets out to defend her US Figure Skating title

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After injuries and mental strife, Amber Glenn sets out to defend her US Figure Skating title
News

News

After injuries and mental strife, Amber Glenn sets out to defend her US Figure Skating title

2025-01-23 02:33 Last Updated At:02:51

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Amber Glenn has fought through so many injuries and mental roadblocks over the years that nobody would have thought less of her had she given up figure skating, the sport that has brought her so much stress yet so much joy.

One of the best hopes for an American medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the 25-year-old tackled head-on an eating disorder, which is all-too common in the sport. She has battled depression and learned to cope with ADHD, which at one point drove her to take eight months away from the ice. And she has become a popular champion for the LGBTQ community.

Now, at an age when many rivals contemplate retirement, Glenn has reached something approaching inner peace, and it has translated into a late-career revival. She has not lost in any competition in more than a year, last month becoming the first American to win the prestigious Grand Prix Final in nearly 15 years, and beginning Thursday night will attempt to defend her gold medal at the final U.S. Figure Skating Championships before the Milano-Cortina Games.

“It's taken many, many years to get to this point,” Glenn said. “I went through a point being just at my lowest, to recovering, to being at a place of stagnant — I was OK. I wasn't great but I was surviving, which isn't thriving, but I was surviving. I would have flare-ups, setbacks, things would happen. I was in a more delicate state but more stable than when it came crashing down.”

That was back in 2015 and '16, Glenn explained, when she was considered an up-and-coming prodigy, poised to follow in the footsteps of such American champions as Tara Lipinski, Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, Kimmie Meissner and Rachael Flatt.

Instead, Glenn found herself in a mental health facility shortly before her first senior international competition. She went on to finish sixth at the Autumn Classic, but then stepped away from the sport entirely to focus on her personal well-being.

She didn't quit, though — not on figure skating or herself. And while there were still hurdles for Glenn to overcome, including a series of concussions, she began to see progress, and that gave her the confidence to keep going.

“As I came into my own and really did some reflection on who I am, and along with that the coming out, deciding to skate how I wanted to skate — not for the scores but for myself — and doing things like that even in my everyday life, it has been essential for my growth both mentally and in the sport,” Glenn said. "I would say I really came into my own my last couple years, and my crisis was '15-16, but luckily I had a lot of good resources, a lot of good tools and people I asked for help.

“And here I am now,” she said with a smile, “doing what I never thought I would be capable of.”

With her confidence soaring, Glenn began this season by winning the lower-level Lombardia Trophy and then triumphed at the Cup of China and Grand Prix de France; the first Grand Prix wins of her career. At the event in France, Glenn landed a triple axel in the short program and scored 78.14 points, the highest ever for an American woman.

At the Grand Prix Final in December, Glenn won both the short program and free skate to become the first American woman to win the event since Alissa Czisny stood upon the top step of the podium in 2010.

“It started with (last year's) national championships. There was the world championships, a break, and I didn't really know how to navigate being the champion,” Glenn said. “Then I got my first international win and it just kept going.”

Now, after the withdrawal of 2023 champ Isabeau Levito due to injury, Glenn is favored to win her second straight national title this week. Her biggest competition figures to be Alysa Liu, a 2022 Olympian in the midst of a comeback; two-time champ Bradie Tennell, who has been dealing with injuries of her own; and rising stars Sarah Everhardt and Elyce Lin-Gracey.

Two-time defending world champs Madison Chock and Evan Bates are even bigger favorites to win their fourth straight U.S. ice dance title, and their sixth overall. They have the world's top score this season of 219.85 points, which the 2022 Olympians set while winning their second consecutive Grand Prix Final.

Ellie Kam and Daniel O'Shea are the top pairs team following their fifth-place finish at the Grand Prix Final.

In the men's competition, 20-year-old Ilia Malinin — the reigning world champion and favorite to win Olympic gold in just over a year — could once again showcase the quad axel, a 4 1/2-revolution jump that only he has landed in competition.

His event wraps up four days of competition Sunday. Then comes the world championships in Boston in March, followed by ...

“The event that's 13 months away, I'm definitely excited for it. It's a little bit in the back of my mind,” Malinin said of the Winter Olympics. “I just want to get through this season, and when I get the down time between seasons, that's when I can begin planning my process and that strategic plan for it.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympicsAP

FILE - Amber Glenn, of the United States, performs her free skate routine at the world figure skating championships Friday, March 22, 2024, in Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Amber Glenn, of the United States, performs her free skate routine at the world figure skating championships Friday, March 22, 2024, in Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Amber Glenn holds her gold medal at the U.S. figure skating championships Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

FILE - Amber Glenn holds her gold medal at the U.S. figure skating championships Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces began withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials said, part of Israel's commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.

Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.

At the start of the ceasefire last month, Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross Netzarim to head to their homes in the war-battered north, sending hundreds of thousands streaming across Gaza on foot and by car. The withdrawal of forces from the area will fulfill another commitment to the deal, which paused the 15-month war.

However, the sides appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal's second phase, which is meant to extend the truce and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in talks between the sides, but the mission included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough in extending the truce. Netanyahu is also expected to convene a meeting of key Cabinet ministers this week on the second phase of the deal.

Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that a 23-year-old Palestinian woman who was eight months pregnant was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a broad operation.

Since it began on Jan. 19, the ceasefire deal has faced repeated obstacles and disagreements between the sides, underscoring its fragility. But it has held, raising hopes that the devastating war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.

On Sunday, cars heaped with belongings, including water tanks and suitcases, were seen heading north through a road that crosses Netzarim. Under the deal, Israel is supposed to allow the cars to cross through uninspected, and there did not appear to be troops in the vicinity of the road.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands" and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”

The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss troop movement with the media, did not disclose how many soldiers were withdrawing. Troops currently remain along Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the truce.

During the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to war-battered Gaza. The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.

In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.” But details beyond that are unclear and repeated stumbling blocks throughout the first phase and the deep mistrust between the sides have cast doubt on whether they can nail down the extension.

Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated. Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.

Netanyahu meanwhile is under heavy pressure from his far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated. He is also facing pressure from Israelis who are eager to see more hostages return home and want to deal to continue, especially after the gaunt appearances of the three male captives freed on Saturday stunned the nation.

Complicating things further is a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory. Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and the broader Arab world have rejected it outright.

The suggested plan is saddled with moral, legal and practical obstacles. But it may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump, to try to ratchet up pressure on Hamas or as an opening gambit in a bargaining process aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That grand deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state in that territory.

Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”

In an interview Thursday with Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”

The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated in the fighting, leaving many Palestinians returning to damaged or destroyed homes.

Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the north of the territory. The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants in the territory. The Palestinian Health Ministry also said that Shalabi’s husband was critically wounded by the gunfire.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the Israeli military operation, which started in the city of Jenin several weeks ago. He said the operation was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the occupied West Bank.

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

FILE - Israeli soldiers drive near the northern Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

FILE - Israeli soldiers drive near the northern Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

FILE - Israeli soldiers wave to the camera from an APC as they cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

FILE - Israeli soldiers wave to the camera from an APC as they cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

Palestinians are seen near destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinians are seen near destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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