Why Did Amber Glenn Get a Zero? The Jump That Shook Her Olympic Short Program

The 2026 Winter Olympics are underway, and figure skater Amber Glenn is trending after a shocking score showed a zero next to her name. To be clear, Amber did not score zero overall. She posted a 67.39 in the short program and currently sits in 13th place.

Amber entered these Games as one of the most accomplished American women in the field. She started skating in 2004 and represents the Dallas Figure Skating Club. According to the ISU, her personal bests stand at 215.54 overall, 78.14 in the short program, and 148.93 in the free skate. She has also steadily climbed the international ranks. She finished 12th, then 10th, and, most recently, fifth at the World Championships.

According to Reuters, Amber planned a triple loop as her required solo jump in the short program. Instead, she doubled it, turning the element into a double loop. In the short program, that’s a problem, because the solo jump is supposed to be a triple. When she popped it to a double, the element didn’t meet the requirement, so the scoring sheet marked it as invalid and gave it 0.00. On the judges’ detail sheet, that jump shows up as “2Lo”* with a base value of 0.00 and a score of 0.00.

Amber performed her short program to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” the same music listed on her ISU bio for the 2025–26 season. She was also one of only two women to land a triple axel in the short program, which makes the “zero” even more painful, because she did something huge and still left points on the table.

Amber left the ice in tears after her short program and did not stop to speak with reporters in the mixed zone. Despite her disappointing performance in the short program, Amber is still competing at the Olympics. She qualified for the women’s free skate, which is scheduled for Feb. 19. And while her Olympic run isn’t over, Amber is sitting in 13th place after the short; she will need a strong, clean redemption skate to climb the leaderboard.

Team USA’s figure skating campaign has included highs and lows. According to NBC Olympics, America won gold in the team event, locking in a first-place finish. In ice dance, Madison Chock and Evan Bates earned silver with a second-place result. The men’s singles field saw Ilia Malinin finish eighth, Andrew Torgashev place 12th, and Maxim Naumov come in 20th.

In pairs, Emily Chan and Spencer Howe placed seventh, while Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea finished ninth. On the women’s side, after the short program, Alysa Liu sits in third, Isabeau Levito in eighth, and Amber in 13th.