2025 Cup of China Women’s Podium (From L to R): Alysa Liu (USA), Amber Glenn (USA) and Rinka Watanabe (JPN).

2025 Cup of China: Women

USA’s Amber Glenn edged out teammate Alysa Liu for the gold medal in the Women’s event on Sunday in Chongqing at the 2025 Cup of China. The silver was Liu’s first Grand Prix medal in her third year on the circuit. Japan’s Rinka Watanabe pocketed the bronze, her fourth Grand Prix medal to date.

Amber Glenn

The 2024-25 Grand Prix Final champion gave an inspiring performance to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” in which she opened with a solid triple Axel. She put a hand down on the back end of a triple flip-triple toe, but the triple loop was solid, and she earned a level four on two spins and the footwork. She placed third in the short program with 73.04 points going into the free skate.

Glenn admitted to not feeling her best, but said she “really fought out there.”

“I’ve been really practicing extremely hard, so I let my training kind of take over,” said the 25-year-old. “There were just, you know, little mistakes here and there.”

Her favorite part of the routine is where the choir comes in.

“I think it’s a lot of fun because there’s a second there that I get to look and take a second and then I go,” Glenn explained. “So, it’s just a lot of fun and then when I stop for a second and do a little dance thing and see everyone that’s really into it, it’s a great time!”

The two-time national champion placed first in with her heartfelt free skate which featured a very good triple Axel. She stepped out of the back end of a triple Lutz-double toe and later landed a triple flip on the quarter, but all other jumps were clean. This included a triple Lutz-double toe, triple Salchow, a triple loop-double Axel-double Axel sequence, and a triple loop. A spin and the footwork were graded a level four, and she earned a new season’s best of 141.74 for her routine to “I Will Find You” and “The Return.” With a total score of 214.78, she moved up to two spots to first place overall.

“Today was not too bad, but it was a bit hard for me,” said Glenn. “I did something to my neck in practice, so it’s all bruised and feels weird. I can’t really move my head too far over my shoulder. I told my coach during warm-up that if I came near someone, he should shout. It was quite scary. But don’t worry it’s not an injury I think it will be okay.”

The skater went on to say that she had some pain when she finished her performance and that “going back into the layback was hard. I missed a level on it.”

“Because I couldn’t move my head the way I wanted, it also reflected in my components, since I wasn’t able to perform the way I normally do,” Glenn explained. “But I’m really proud that I stayed mentally strong today.”

She is also “very happy” with her progress and the fact that her triple Axel has been solid in practices.

The skater said that she is having fun with her new dress as she is using the same program from last season.

“It’s really fun!” said Glenn. “I could actually hear the stones when it was quiet! I was like, thank God the music is loud, because I could hear the crystals moving. I’ll decide for each competition which of the two dresses I’ll wear.”

She added that her motto is “Believe and Breathe.”

“It’s because sometimes I forget to breathe,” she explained. “And sometimes, when I have doubts going into a competition—you never know what will happen—those doubts creep in. When I went into the triple Axel, my head was filled with so many thoughts, but I told myself, ‘No. You believe in yourself. You’ve got this.'”

Alysa Liu

The 2025 World champion put out an emotional solid short program that featured a triple flip, double Axel and triple Lutz-triple loop. All spins and footwork were graded a level four, and she earned positive grades of execution (GOE) on all elements. With a season’s best score of 74.61, she placed first after her routine to “Promise” by Laufey.

“There were some things I could have definitely done better technical element wise, but I really liked the performance,” said Liu.

The skater is not sure yet if she will continue to use the program from last season.

“This program obviously is really sad, but usually every time I do the program, I’m very much in it,” said Liu. “I let the music kind of take over. I also haven’t done it like a while in a big performance. And in performances, I usually give more somehow. I mean, I always have ideas about making new programs, but they don’t necessarily need to be for competition. Maybe some of them will be for shows. So whether we’ll change it or not, we’ll see.”

Liu skated to “MacArthur Park Suite” by Donna Summer, a successful number from last season. The 2022 Olympian landed a total of five clean triple jumps, including a triple Lutz-triple toe. She stepped out of a triple Lutz which was meant to be a sequence, but was able to do a triple flip-double Axel-double toe sequence. However, the flip received an edge call and the Axel was landed on the quarter. Nevertheless, her energetic routine featured two level-four spins, and she placed second with a season’s best of 137.46 points. Unfortunately, with a total score of 212.07, she slipped to second place overall.

“Not the perfect skate for me, but I would say that I had a really good workout, you know?” said the 20-year-old. “It was a really good workout. I had fun! I kind of liked that I had to think in my program after I messed up the Lutz. It’s like a new experience for me and I found it cool.”

“I am very happy that I got to skate here, it was really fun to have my family watching,” she added. “Also, it’s a really good arena, so I loved it!”

Liu added that it feels “really weird” to win her first Grand Prix medal.

“I feel like I’ve just entered a new level somehow, like a new area on the map,” she said. “It’s just different. I am not even sure if I want to go to the Final (laughing). No, it’s Japan, so of course I do.”

Rinka Watanabe

The 2024 Four Continents bronze medalist hung on to her opening triple Axel in the short program and followed up with a solid triple Lutz-triple toe and triple loop. Her routine to “El Tango De Roxanne” from Moulin Rouge! also featured level-four spins and footwork, and she scored a new personal best of 74.01 for second place.

The skater said she cried a lot and actually considered quitting skating after her Challenger event in Georgia earlier this month.

“But last week I worked really hard and finally I had a great short program!” she said. “So I feel perfect, really happy. I had to change my “Moana” short program because of the music rights and the situation with Disney.  I also got that feeling that I really want to skate to ‘Roxanne’ again, and now finally I skated a perfect ‘Roxanne!'”

Skating to “Jin,” the three-time Grand Prix medalist landed the first jump in a triple Axel-triple toe, but fell after the second jump. She underrotated the second triple Axel attempt, but landed a two clean triple Lutz jumps. A triple Salchow and triple flip were landed on the quarter, and she popped her final jump—the triple loop. Despite the errors, Watanabe still showed very good spins and footwork, but placed fifth (124.62) in the free skate. With a total score of 198.63, she still managed to stay on the podium for third place overall.

“I feel very relieved and relaxed,” said the 23-year-old. “The triple axel in the combination was really good, I thought so, but then I fell on the toe. My long program was not perfect here, but I want a perfect one at Skate America. Winning a medal here means a lot because I don’t want to give up for the Grand Prix Final yet. I will have to do great at the next one in America.”

Anastasiia Gubanova

Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova delivered a lively and rhythmic short program to “San Sanana” and “Jogi” to place fifth with 66.28 points. Her program included a triple flip-triple toe and double Axel, however, the solo triple Lutz was landed on the quarter. Only the flying camel spin received a level four, while all other spins and footwork were graded a level three.

The three-time European medalist was pleased overall.

“Of course, I’ve already looked at the levels. They can be a bit better, yes, like a third level on the step sequence,” said Gubanova. “But I’m pleased that I pulled myself together. And most importantly, that by the end of the program I enjoyed the step sequence, I was able to truly dance there. That, I believe, is the main thing.”

The skater added that the preparation in between the last events was the same as usual, but the competition in Georgia was very emotional.

The six-time Challenger series medalist landed five triple jumps in her sentimental routine to music from Ghost. Her opening triple flip-triple toe was solid, but she had to hang on to the landing of the triple loop. The solo triple Lutz, triple Salchow, and triple Lutz-double Axel-double Axel sequence were also good, but she underrotated the front end of a triple flip-double toe. Two spins were awarded a level four, and she finished third (131.60) in the free skate, moving up to fourth place overall (197.88).

The 22-year-old said she was not nervous and that “everything was as usual.”

“Naturally, there were some nerves, as there always are, but it was all within an acceptable limit,” Gubanova said. “I really wanted to hold all the jumps, obviously. Since this season is going quite successfully, I always try to do that in the technical part. And I didn’t want to lower the bar for this competition as well. So, from the technical side, I wanted to do everything. In principle, I completed that task, and at the end, I tried to perform emotionally as well.”

Jia Shin

Jia Shin of South Korea put out a nearly solid short program to Chopin’s Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor, placing fourth with 68.01 points. The only mistake came when she stepped out of a triple flip, but the 17-year-old otherwise produced a solid triple Lutz-triple toe and double Axel. Two spins and the footwork were graded a level four, and all elements (except for the flip) received many GOEs.

The two-time South Korean champion was a bit disappointed about the triple flip, but felt the program overall was better than last week at 2025 Grand Prix de France.

The 2025 Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medalist popped her opening triple loop and took a fall on a triple Lutz-triple toe in the free skate. Her delicate routine to Liebesträume No. 3 in A-Flat Minor otherwise featured three clean triple jumps: triple Salchow, triple flip-double toe-double loop and a triple flip-double Axel sequence. She displayed very nice level-four spins and footwork throughout and finished fourth in the free skate. With a total score of 195.43, Shin placed fifth overall.

The skater was disappointed about mistakes on the jumps today as she made similar ones in France. Yet she feels like her skating was smoother this time, so she is a happy about that.

Shin explained that she changed her program from Spartacus as she was not yet comfortable with it.

Japan’s Rino Matsuike finished sixth overall (188.06) followed by Ruiyang Zhang of China (179.54) and Italy’s Anna Pezzetta (178.34).

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