Team USA figure skater Amber Glenn explained an awkward moment caught on camera during the women’s free skate event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
While sitting in the kiss-and-cry area after her performance on Thursday, February 19, Glenn, 26, gave a small laugh as skater Adeliia Petrosian awaited her scores in the background.
The clip immediately gained traction on social media, with some assuming Glenn was delighting in Petrosian’s messy free skate, which saw her fall on a quad toeloop, effectively eliminating her chances at a medal.
“I saw I was on camera and tried to smile but was uncomfortable bc I knew that the people next to me were upset….. What was I supposed to do?,” Glenn posted via X on Thursday.
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Controversy has swirled around Petrosian’s inclusion at the Games. A native of Russia, Petrosian, 18, was designated as an “individual neutral athlete” due to Russia’s delegation of athletes competing at the Olympics without a flag or symbols in response to their military invasion of Ukraine.
Petrosian ultimately finished in sixth place.
After her free skate, Petrosian told reporters that it would be “mentally hard” to return to Russia.
“Right now I’m just a bit ashamed for myself, the federation, the coaches, the spectators that it turned out like that,” she said.
As for Glenn, she redeemed herself on Thursday with a sensational free skate that catapulted her into a fifth place finish after entering the day in 13th place after a disappointing short program on Tuesday, February 17.
“There’s of course a lot going through my mind of just, ‘Oh my gosh, what if,’ but overall I’m happy with what I did today,” Glenn told reporters on Thursday.
She added, “Of course there were some small mistakes, but I felt I handled myself really well. There were many, many things that I was having to struggle with to get to where I am today in that performance. I’m really happy with the way I was able to conclude this Olympics.”
Glenn hinted that Thursday’s free skate was her Olympics swan song.
“I don’t know how long I have left [skating],” Glenn admitted. “So I’ll be kind of helping on the sidelines.”
When asked about the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps, Glenn said, “I’ll be 30. I’m lucky my body is holding itself together right now. And it barely is.”
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Team USA’s Alysa Liu won the gold medal on Thursday, with American Isabeau Levito finishing in 12th.
“I’m just really proud and happy for the legacy [Liu and Levito] are leaving on this sport,” Glenn said.
Glenn, Liu, 20, and Levito, 18, affectionately nicknamed the Blade Angels, have helped usher in a new era of excitement of energy to the sport.
“What I said to Isabeau is that she looked so beautiful and that she had such determination and fight, and I was proud of her,” Glenn said on Thursday. “And Alysa, I was saying, ‘This is going to change the future for figure skating,’ and I really hope all three of us can work toward that.”
