US skater Glenn stuns Sakamoto to win Grand Prix Final gold

GRENOBLE, France: US national champion Amber Glenn stunned three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto to win women´s gold ahead of five Japanese figure skaters at the ISU Grand Prix final on Saturday.

Glenn extended her lead from the short programme in the free skating final in south-eastern France, scoring a total of 212.07 points after two performances which both included her signature triple axel jump.

The elite six-skater competition included five Japanese skaters with Mone Chiba taking silver with 208.85 points and defending champion Sakamoto bronze with 201.13.

Sakamoto had not been beaten in a major competition since the 2022 Grand Prix final.

The 24-year-old Olympic bronze medallist paid for a fall on a triple toeloop which cost her points in the short programme.

Glenn, 25, who won both her Grand Prix events in Angers, France and China this year, had not won an international event before this season and steps into the spotlight just over a year ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

She becomes the first American woman to win the Grand Prix final, the third major event in the skating calendar after the Olympics and world championships, since Alissa Czisny in 2010.

Later Saturday, American Ilia Malinin will bid to defend his men´s title having dominated the short programme. The world champion leads Yuma Kagiyama, the 2022 Olympic silver medallist, by a full 12 points.

American two-time reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates are leading the ice dance going into the free dance final.

On Friday, German figure skaters Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin successfully defended their pairs title.