Just when the sting of her Winter Olympics short program mistake had not fully healed, Amber Glenn has now faced another tough short-program setback. This one should have hurt even more as it could have been a potential first World medal, before it slipped away. Still, she was able to take pride in reaching a goal she had chased for years.

This time, Glenn landed a near-flawless short program with a successful triple loop, which happens to be the jump that hurt her performance at the Winter Olympics. Despite this, she couldn’t get the medal, and she later took to social media to thank her fans for their support.

“Thank you everyone for the love and support🤍” Glenn wrote on X.

“I’m okay! If anything I’m mentally, emotionally, physically exhausted after a season of extreme highs and lows. I did what I set out to do 6 years ago. Land a Triple axel and go to the Olympics and nothing will take that away from me.”

Glenn entered the final segment, i.e., the free skate, in third place behind Kaori Sakamoto and Mone Chiba but ahead of fellow American Isabeau Levito. Levito made errors, finishing with a score of 134.83, and was followed by Glenn. And given that Glenn had put up an impressive free-skate routine at the 2026 Olympics, where she narrowly missed the podium after a short-program blunder, many expected the same at Worlds.

But this time, Glenn didn’t falter.

She carried the momentum from her short program into the free skate, starting strong, opening with a perfect triple Axel. But then everything came crashing down as she made errors in her triple salchow and triple loop, which saw her score 130.47. It meant that she fell from third to sixth by the end of the night, a little over 12 points behind third-place Nina Pinzarrone.

That, combined with exceptional performances from Kaori Sakamoto (1st) and Mone Chiba (2nd), meant that Glenn’s wait for a World Championship medal continues as Levito leapfrogged her into fourth. But while her performances on the rink didn’t match up, a fellow rival praised the American’s off-ice attitude and personality.

Amber Glenn was praised by Kaori Sakamoto for her sportsmanship

For the unversed, Amber Glenn went viral during the 2026 Olympics when she protected Kaori Sakamoto during a tough moment. The Japanese figure skater was on par to win the gold medal in her final Olympics before she made a bad error during a triple combo. She thus lost points, which meant she finished behind eventual winner Alysa Liu.

Sakamoto was heartbroken by the mistake, and she was seen crying as a camera crew drew closer, trying to get a close-up of the skater. But Glenn stepped in, protected the Japanese star and told the crew to leave. The moment saw the American celebrated for her sportsmanship, and Sakamoto touched on that before the free skate program.

“I think Amber has done many things for the sport,” Sakamoto said in the press conference. “Every competition, she reassures me and praises me. Usually, in our sport, as rivals, we tend not to get too close. But I think Amber broke the stereotype that in figure skating, you have to act as formidable rivals and not speak to each other before competing.

“I think having someone who helps foster and create that atmosphere helps me feel stronger. I think I speak for all the Japanese skaters when I say that we are all grateful. When she finds someone in trouble, she thinks about how she can help.”

This isn’t the first time people have celebrated Glenn, as the 26-year-old acted as a mentor for the much younger Alysa Liu during the 2026 Olympics. Not only that, Mone Chiba has since revealed that Glenn praised her performance at the 2026 Olympics, which was also her first. Chiba narrowly missed out on third place, finishing fourth, and was upset when Glenn stepped in and lifted her spirits.

That did not go unnoticed by fans, who took to social media to further praise Glenn for her attitude and mindset towards potential rivals despite figure skating’s harsh environment. It does mean that while another near miss will hurt Amber Glenn, her impact on the figure skating community has already made her a star.