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Thanks to a free-skate routine that featured a triple axel, Amber Glenn overtook Alysa Liu to successfully defend her women’s title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Wichita, Kan., on Friday.

Glenn, a 25-year-old Texan, earned a score of 145.88 on the free skate, giving her a total of 216.79. She sat in third place after the short program on Thursday.

Liu, a 19-year-old Californian who led after the short program, had a chance to overtake Glenn’s total, but she slipped on her final spin of the free skate. She received a 138.97 score on Friday, second best in the free skate, and wound up as runner-up at 215.33.

The winning margin of 1.46 points was the tightest since the current scoring system was instituted in 2006, according to NBC Sports.

Glenn won the Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, last month but since had been ill.

“There was a lot of fight this week. I have not been feeling great the last couple weeks coming into here,” Glenn told NBC Sports on Friday. “But I’ve been training so hard, and I wanted to make myself proud today.”

Sarah Everhardt, an 18-year-old Virginian, moved past Bradie Tennell to claim the bronze medal. A 136.64 score on the free skate gave Everhardt a total of 207.36.

Tennell, a 26-year-old from Illinois who captured the U.S. championship in 2018 and 2021, finished at 199.94 following a 128.71 on the free skate.

Sherry Zhang, a 16-year-old from San Jose, Calif., rounded out the top five at 188.48, having scored 121.06 on the free skate.

The ice dance competition began on Friday, and three-time defending champions Evan Bates and Madison Chock built a hefty lead after the rhythm dance.

Bates and Chock are at 92.16, with Anthony Ponomarenko and Christina Carreira a distant second at 82.86.

With previous U.S. titles in 2015, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024, the married pair of Bates and Chock are poised to match the record of six U.S. ice dancing titles held by Charlie White and Meryl Davis. Bates and Chock also were part of the United States’ gold-medal-winning figure skating team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Bates, 35, told NBC Sports that Chock, 32, wasn’t fully healthy on Friday.

“Experiences like today really help us a lot,” he said. “I mean, it’s not fun to skate when you’re not feeling your best, but knowing we can still go out and perform well under any circumstances is such a confidence boost.”

The pairs of Vadym Kolesnik and Emilea Zingas (82.13), Michael Parsons and Caroline Green (82.13) and Gage Brown and Oona Brown (77.38) round up the top five.

The ice dancing champions will be crowned on Saturday following the free dance. The Saturday schedule also features the men’s short program and the pairs free skate. The event concludes Sunday with the men’s free skate.

–Field Level Media