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American skater Glenn leads Japanese at ISU Grand Prix final / Photo: OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE - AFP
American skater Glenn leads Japanese at ISU Grand Prix final
US national champion Amber Glenn took the honours in the women's short programme at the ISU Grand Prix final in Grenoble on Thursday while German skaters Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin edged ahead in the pairs.
Glenn, 25, who won both her Grand Prix events in Angers, France and China this campaign, scored 70.04 points for her routine to Janet Jackson's "This Time" to take a slender lead over Mone Chiba who collected 69.33.
Chiba is one of five Japanese skaters chasing Glenn, including Kaori Sakamoto, the three-time reigning world champion who is unbeaten this season.
Sakamoto posted 63.98 to leave her in fourth with some ground to make up in Saturday's free programme.
Hase and Volodin are in an equally tight competiton in the pairs, just 0.45 points ahead of Japan's former world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, returning from injury, after the pairs short programme.
The German pair, who took bronze behind the Japanese at the worlds last year, scored 76.72, for their performance to Tami Wilson's "You Were Mine".
Defending champions Miura and Kihara, world champions in 2023, scored 76.27 after their programme to the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black".
World champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada withdrew before the competition due to illness.
Georgian pair Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava are third with 72.26 on the opening day of the elite six-team competition.
E.Fritsch--BlnAP
