Amber Glenn Has Her Sights Set at the Top of the Figure Skating World
U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn has skated her way to the top by finding her own stride both on and off the ice.
There’s just one more title U.S. figure skating phenom Amber Glenn hopes to add to her undefeated season: world champion.
Glenn—who took home the gold at the U.S. Figure Skating Championship in January for the second consecutive year—takes the ice this week at the World Figure Skating Championship in Boston, where she hopes to take home the top honor.
If Glenn can clinch the gold, it would be the first time an American skater has claimed the women’s World Championship title in nearly 20 years. The history-making feat would seem right on brand for Glenn, who has been blazing her own trail in the sport for years. Glenn, who is known for her unparalleled athleticism in the rink, is also an openly LGTBQ woman and vocal mental health advocate.
So just who is the skating sensation taking the figure skating world by storm? Read on below to find out more about Glenn, her golden season and what makes her stand out on the ice.
Where is Amber Glenn From?
Glenn was just 5 years old when she began skating at an ice rink inside a Plano, Texas mall, not far from where she grew up, according to a profile in The New York Times.
Her natural talent caught the attention of coaches a few years later and by the age of 14, she was crowned the winner of the 2014 U.S. Junior Championships.
But as Glenn recently told NBC’s TODAY, the prestigious skating title also came with a tremendous amount of pressure to succeed.
“I remember being absolutely thrilled, but as soon as that happened, the expectations were just astounding,” she said, according to NBC Sports.
Amber Glenn’s Early Ice Skating Career
Glenn earned comparisons to skating greats like Gracie Gold and Polina Edmunds—who both made the 2014 Olympic team—but she struggled with her newfound time in the limelight.
When her mental health hit an all-time low in the fall of 2015, the teen checked into a mental health facility and took some time away from the sport she loved, as she questioned whether she’d ever be able to skate competitively again.
The Texas native found her way back the next season, but anxiety continued to play a role in her competitive appearances in the years that followed and led to some agonizing mistakes on the ice.
“I feel like I have lived this journey with her and watched her through the years knowing she had the ability but coming up short,” NBC sports commentator Terry Gannon told The New York Times of Glenn's struggles. “Now we see her break through at the highest level.”
Amber Glenn’s Career Accolades
A bout with COVID kept her from competing for a spot in the 2022 Olympics and she suffered a debilitating concussion in 2023 after colliding with another skater during practice, but by 2024 Glenn began to hit her stride.
She won the national title in January of 2024 and added four international titles to her collection in the fall, including the prestigious Grand Prix Final held in Grenoble, France.
Glenn, who is known for her ability to land a seamless triple axel, returned to the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championship in January and again took home the top honor.
Along with her time spent practicing in the rink, Glenn—who now lives and trains in Colorado Springs— has credited her success to integrating neurotherapy into her practice and visualizing herself as a “calm beast,” a phrase coach Sandy Straub coined for her.
“They were trying to come up with something to help me lock in mentally in the right amount,” Glenn told NBC Sports. “She had mentioned one of the days that I was trying some new focusing techniques that I looked like a calm beast, and I had been skating well. It’s a reminder of getting into this zone.”
As for the neurotherapy, Glenn has been working with a sports psychology consultant to understand more about what her brain does while she’s performing, according to The New York Times. She uses a device to track her heart rate and brain waves during practice to give her team more feedback about what’s going on inside her body during a high-pressure routine.
How Old is Amber Glenn?
At the age of 25, Glenn is finally enjoying the fruits of her labor at an age when many figure skaters are thinking about hanging up their skates. She jokingly refers to herself as the “fun aunt” at the training rink and has become a mentor to younger skaters.
Glenn even inspired some of the sport’s youngest promising athletes just days before 28 members of the U.S. Figure Skating community were killed in a January Washington, DC plane crash, a tragedy which she told The New York Times “broke my heart.”
“What hit me so hard is I told them to make friends that they would have for the rest of their life,” she recalled.
Amber Glenn’s Mental Health and LGBTQ Advocacy Efforts
Glenn hopes to share what she’s learned along the way with the next generation of young skaters and has become an outspoken advocate for mental health.
“I would definitely say that your mental and physical health comes first," Glenn told Gold during a conversation for Olympics.com. "As long as you work on improving and optimizing that, the rest should come in time. And that's just what you need. You have one body. You need to cherish it and love what it does for you and not just how it looks."
Glenn, who identifies as pansexual, has also become a powerful voice in the LGBTQ community, often taking a victory lap on the ice after a win while proudly holding a pride flag.
"In the year 2025, many people in the queer community feel like they have to kind of step back into the shadows, and I want to show that figure skating is a safe space and a community where they can be themselves,” she told Olympics.com.
She credited the support she’s found from others within the LGBTQ community with helping her get through from her darkest moments on the ice.
"I would have people come up to me and tell their story and say how they felt like they were able to really be themselves, whether it was in a rink, in an office, whatever it was in their lives. I gave them a little bit of motivation and they were able to move past some challenges. That just meant everything to me,” she said.
