TL;DR

• Amber Glenn is a frontrunner for Olympic gold in figure skating.
• She says coming out as bisexual and pansexual transformed her confidence and career.
• Glenn is set to be the first out woman to figure skate at the Olympics.
• After struggles with mental health, injuries, and expectations, she rebuilt her career.
• She now sees queer advocacy and authenticity as central to her success.

Amber Glenn Says Coming Out Fueled Her Rise to Olympic Contender

A Record-Breaking Skate—and a Life-Changing Truth

Amber Glenn had barely cleared the ice when she saw the number that stunned her: 83.05. The U.S. Championship-record score flashed on the monitor, sending her into a scream of disbelief that echoed across the arena. Days later, she became the first American woman in over two decades to win three straight national titles—punching her ticket to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and setting her up as the best U.S. hope for women’s singles gold since 2006.

But Glenn says none of this would have happened if she hadn’t come out.

The Texas-raised skater, now 24, publicly shared in 2019 that she is bisexual and pansexual—an admission she thought would quietly sit in a local LGBTQ newspaper. Instead, it blew up overnight, thrusting her into an international spotlight she never expected. And while she feared judgment from fans, judges, and international audiences, her fears never materialized. Pride flags greeted her at competitions. Sponsors stayed. Doors opened.

“It set me free,” Glenn says. “I realized I wasn’t being pressured into someone else’s shoes. I could skate as myself.”

The Mental Toll—and the Breakthrough

Like many elite athletes, Glenn’s journey hasn’t been a straight shot to the medal stand. She stepped away from the sport due to mental health struggles, battled multiple concussions, and endured inconsistent performances. In 2021 she missed the world championship team. In 2022 she was derailed by Covid. And she spent years fearing she didn’t “fit the mold”—too muscular, too bold, too visibly queer for a sport where “artistry” is often code for rigid expectations of femininity.

Figure skating’s subjective scoring loomed large in her anxieties. Unlike timed sports, judging relies partly on personal interpretation. Glenn feared being viewed as less graceful or less feminine—fears queer women in sports know all too well. But eventually she realized someone had to challenge those outdated stereotypes.

“If we’re ever going to get past that worry, someone has to break the mold,” she says. “Someone has to show it doesn’t affect you.”

And she did.

The Rise of a Queer Trailblazer on Ice

After the 2022 Olympics, Glenn revamped her training. She switched coaches, moved from Texas to Colorado, and teamed up with mental performance experts who helped her manage the adrenaline spikes that once undermined her routines. The results? Stunning.

She won her first Grand Prix medal, earned World Team Trophy gold, and delivered a season so commanding she became the first U.S. woman in 14 years to win the Grand Prix Final. What started as a quest for a healthier mindset turned into the best competitive streak of her life.

But Glenn insists her real turning point wasn’t a jump, a coach, or a new training center—it was being authentically, unapologetically herself.

“I wanted to at least do it as me,” she says. “And in doing so, I ended up making it to the top somehow.”

A Victory for LGBTQ Athletes Everywhere

As Glenn heads into the Milan Cortina Games as a legitimate gold medal contender, she also steps onto the ice as the first out woman to figure skate at an Olympics. That alone reshapes what’s possible for queer athletes watching from rinks, bleachers, and living rooms around the world.

Her story underscores what LGBTQ advocates have long said: authenticity isn’t a distraction—it’s a performance enhancer. When athletes don’t have to hide who they are, they thrive.

In Glenn’s own words: “Being an advocate for the queer community and for mental health is one of the reasons why I keep going.”

And now, that authenticity might just carry her all the way to Olympic gold—skating not in anyone else’s mold, but in her own dazzling, history-making one.