“It’s like I’ve reached heaven. I can’t believe this is happening to me. I have quite a strong case of imposter syndrome: I just couldn’t believe I was in the Grand Prix Final and that I deserved to be here.” Amber Glenn on winning Finals
Amber Glenn about winning Grand Prix Final and triple axel.
original source: Sports by Maya Bagriantseva
Amber Glenn in a conversation with Sports correspondent Maya Bagriantseva shared her feelings after winning Grand Prix Final and spoke about triple axel. Here’s a translation of her comments posted on Russian site Sports.
“Amber Glenn: It’s like I’ve reached heaven; since the end of the program, I’ve been floating on clouds and can’t believe this is happening to me. I have quite a strong case of imposter syndrome: I just couldn’t believe I was in the Grand Prix Final and that I deserved to be here.
I had a pretty bad fall during the six-minute warm-up, but then I sat quietly in the locker room for a while, took some pain relievers, drank some water, and went out to skate. Fortunately, I don’t have any serious injuries now, but you know, I’m 25 years old – and even a single bad fall is quite painful for me. When you’re over 20 and doing triple axels, it often hurts, haha.
It wasn’t easy in Grenoble – neither in the short program nor in the free skate. Today was a working skate, but not the kind of performance that makes you fly and sparkle with happiness afterward. I went on the ice to do my job – and knew that I couldn’t give up halfway through.
So it wasn’t a performance that I’d enjoy watching again; it was more a demonstration of what I can do. The last minute of the program was especially tough; my leg muscles seized up and I barely made it to the end. I hope I can show something completely different in my next competitions.
But I’m proud of myself: both for skating consistently and for pulling myself together for the second half of the program. I used to struggle with both. After the midpoint of the program, I experience a sharp surge of adrenaline and it really disrupts the skate, making it physically difficult for me.
Before going out on the ice, I said to myself quite loudly: you’re here, you made it, go out and show what you’re capable of. And before the skate, my coach told me: be a calm beast. It’s our inside joke back home at the rink: once, I really skated well, and my coach told me I looked like a confident beast.
So I needed to keep calm and show powerful skating. And when I got off the ice, I immediately started telling my coach how I didn’t reach here, and I couldn’t do there but he interrupted me and said: calm down, you just did great today.”
Amber Glenn also confessed that the triple axel is the easiest jump for her.
“The triple axel is my favorite jump, there’s no doubt about it. I think today I nailed it – it was high and had great flight. True, it took a lot of energy, though lately, it really has been quite easy for me. I’m not exaggerating: it really is one of the least problematic jumps for me now, but it’s important to understand how long it took me to get here.
This fall, I won the first international gold medal of my life. Just imagine: I was 13 when I first traveled abroad for competitions, and only now have I achieved victories – four in a row,” said the American skater, as reported by Sports correspondent Maya Bagryantseva.
Related topics: Amber Glenn, grand prix, grand prix final
Really happy for Amber. Finally her hard work is paying off!! Nice to see a mature skater doing triple axel:)