Amber Glenn won her third consecutive U.S. Figure Skating title Friday night with a brilliant free skate on the heels of an equally impressive performance from world champ Alysa Liu, who remained rinkside to cheer on her soon-to-be teammate on the American team headed for the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Glenn finished with 233.55 points inside the packed Enterprise Center in St. Louis, while Liu was second with 228.91. Isabeau Levito earned the bronze medal with 224.45 points and, more than likely, the final women’s spot on the squad for the Winter Games.

The official team announcement comes Sunday.

“Just so grateful. That was terrifying,” said Glenn, who has been on a dominant tear over the past two years. “And I had to skate after two incredible ladies brought down the house. I’m still just mind-blown.”

Earlier in the night, Alisha Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov defended their pairs title despite a couple of mistakes, including a scary moment when Mitrofanov was nearly clipped by Efimova’s skate. They finished with 207.71 points to outdistance Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, who were second with 197.12, and the duo of Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman.

Now comes a nervous wait to see whether Efimova and Mitrofanov can compete at the Olympics.

While he is a U.S. citizen, born in Wisconsin and raised in Texas, Efimova, 26, was born in Finland and has competed for Germany and Russia along with her native country. Only citizens of the nation they represent are eligible for the Olympics, though, and while Mitrofanov and Efimova are married and she has a green card, she has not received an American passport yet.

The Skating Club of Boston, where the couple trains, has been working with U.S. senators and U.S. Figure Skating officials to get the three-year waiting period for citizenship expedited. But time is running out before Sunday’s deadline to announce the team.

The Americans have qualified the maximum three women’s spots on the Olympic team. They have only two spots in pairs.

Efimova and Mitrofanov would get one, should her citizenship get approved at the last minute. Kam and O’Shea are near locks to make their first Olympic team, while McBeath and Parkman are unable to go because he does not have U.S. citizenship.

That could leave U.S. Figure Skating to make a judgment call on the second pairs team it sends to the Milan Cortina Games.

Emily Chan and Spencer Howe rallied from eighth after a difficult short program to finish fourth with 186.52 points, while the up-and-coming team of Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy were less than two points behind in fifth place.

GOLF

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka, just more than two weeks after defecting from Saudi-funded LIV Golf, applied to have his PGA Tour membership reinstated.

The next step belongs to the tour, which has suspended players for joining the rival league, even if they never had PGA Tour membership.

Two people with knowledge of Koepka’s application confirmed to AP he has started the process to rejoin the tour. They spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been made public.

ESPN first reported Koepka’s application. With one year left on Koepka’s LIV contract, the Saudi-backed league announced Dec. 23 that he would no longer be part of the LIV Golf League and his captaincy of Smash had been turned over to Talor Gooch.

“Brooks is prioritizing the needs of his family and staying closer to home,” said Scott O’Neil, the CEO of LIV Golf, who described the departure as amicable and mutual.

The tour policy has been players having to sit out one year from their last LIV appearance, but that was only for nonmembers, such as Laurie Canter. The Englishman was a part-time LIV player, and he qualified for The Players Championship last March one year and a month after last playing a LIV event in Las Vegas.

Brian Rolapp, who took over as CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises last summer, will face one of his first decisions on a pathway back for LIV Golf players wanting to return. His case will be reviewed by Rolapp, along with the policy board and player directors. That includes Tiger Woods, who chairs the Future Competition Committee.

Koepka, and other PGA Tour members who left for LIV and were seen as damaging the tour, presumably would face any number of penalties. But the tour’s longtime policy has been to never publicize discipline.

TENNIS

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka defeated Karolina Muchová 6-3, 6-4 today to advance to the Brisbane International final.

Sabalenka, the defending Brisbane champion, clinched the semifinal at on her fourth match point to advance to Sunday’s final against the winner of a semifinal between fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula and Marta Kostyuk.

On Friday, in a rematch of last year’s Australian Open final, Sabalenka broke Madison Keys’ in five straight service games on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 win. Last year at Melbourne Park, Keys beat Sabalenka for her first Grand Slam singles title.

Poland will play the United States in the semifinals of the United Cup after beating Australia 2-1 in Sydney.

It took a mixed doubles decider to separate the teams, with Iga Swiatek winning in women’s singles for the Poles and Alex de Minaur prevailing for Australia in the men’s.

In the doubles, Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa won 6-4, 6-0 against John-Patrick Smith and Storm Hunter to set up a rematch of last year’s final against the U.S. in today’s semis.

No. 2-ranked Swiatek will face No. 4 Coco Gauff. Hubert Hurkacz, ranked 83rd, faces No. 9 Taylor Fritz.

COLLEGE SOCCER

Forwards Donavan Phillip of North Carolina State and Jasmine Aikey of Stanford were voted Hermann Trophy winners as the top college soccer players in the United States.

Phillip, a junior from Saint Lucia who turned 21 last week, scored 19 goals as the Wolfpack reached the NCAA title match, which it lost to Washington in extra time.

Aikey, a 20-year-old senior from Palo Alto, scored 21 goals for Stanford, which lost the NCAA final to Florida. She signed Thursday with Denver of the NWSL.

WINTER SPORTS

Kelly Curtis took a big step toward a U.S. Olympic team spot, finishing second in a World Cup women’s skeleton race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, for her best-ever finish on the circuit.

Kim Meylemans of Belgium won the race in 2 minutes, 21.01 seconds. Curtis was second in 2:22.12 for her second career World Cup medal — she had a bronze on her home track at Lake Placid, N.Y., in December 2022.

The silver medal pushed Curtis — who was on the Olympic team in 2022 — past world championship silver medalist Mystique Ro for the top spot among Americans in the World Cup standings this season. USA Bobsled and Skeleton should finalize its team for next month’s Milan Cortina Olympics next weekend, with the announcement of its roster on Jan. 19.

Ro was 11th in the women’s singles race, then teamed with Austin Florian to tie for fifth in a mixed race later in the day. Ro and Florian combined to win the world mixed title last season.