Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito brought down the house on the opening night of the senior competition at the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis with back-to-back-to-back personal-best performances.

All current or former U.S. champions, the trio followed each at the end of the competition with clean skates and electric programs that pumped up the crowd at the packed Enterprise Center while earning them record marks with the judges.

Glenn, skating last in the field of 18 women, posted a score of 83.05, which is a new U.S. Championships women's short program record (Bradie Tennell held the record from 2021 with 79.40 points).

"I feel ecstatic," Glenn, the two-time and reigning U.S. champion, said. "The score was huge. I was not expecting that. I was walking through my program backstage and I felt something with me and I started crying before I even skated. My grandmother passed last year, and she was with me from day one in my skating. I just felt it today and I'm not usually one of those people that says that, but I felt I had something helping me today through the nerves and I feel that presence was with me. I'm grateful for that and that experience."

The Colorado Springs-based skater, performing to "Like a Prayer" by Madonna, started on fire by landing the triple Axel with a remarkable 2.51 grade of execution, followed by a triple flip-triple toe combination. Both scored more than 10 points. She went on to receive Level 4s on her three spins and step sequence.

Should Glenn go on to win the competition, she would become the first U.S. woman win three consecutive U.S. titles since Michelle Kwan won eight straight.

Liu, the reigning World champion, was also "ecstatic" about her performance to "Promise" by Laufey. The two-time U.S. champion (2019-20) from the Bay Area posted a personal-record score of 81.11 – the second-highest women's short program score in the history of the U.S. Championships – and sits second heading into the free skate.

"I feel over the moon right now; I'm so happy with that short program," Liu said. "I would say that's my favorite program I've done and performed for an audience. I'm also just so happy with the Lutz-loop and my Biellmann [spin]. That was real good."

Liu, like Glenn, skated a clean program. Her triple Lutz-triple loop was the highest-scoring element of the event at 13.65 points and she also received Level 4s for three spins and step sequence.

Levito, the 2023 U.S. champion and 2024 World silver medalist, channeled her Sophia Loren character en route to a third-place finish and a personal record score of 75.72.

"I feel satisfied with myself today," Levito said. "I feel like I did my job. This competition feels like a really big show with the announcing and the lights and the suspenseful music. So it felt a little different."

Levito opened by landing a triple flip-triple toe loop combination worth a program-high 10.71 points and finished strong with all Level 4 elements.

Earlier in the day, defending U.S. pairs champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov took the first step to repeating as titlists with a nearly flawless short program performance on Wednesday.

Skating to "Cloak and Dagger" by Eternal Eclipse, the Norwood-based skaters overcame some nerves to deliver a personal-best score of 75.31.

"We are proud with how we skated tonight," Mitrofanov, who partnered with Efimova in June 2023, said. "We trusted each other, trusted our training. I was a little bit more nervous than normal and I'm proud of Alisa for holding my hand very strong throughout the program."

Efimova and Mitrofanov moved seamlessly throughout their routine, earning Level 4 credit for their Axel lasso lift, back inside death spiral and step sequence.

Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy, fifth at the 2025 U.S. Championships, produced a personal-best short program score of 67.67 and sit second heading into the free skate.

Shin and Nagy, who train in Canada, entertained the crowd with their performance to "El Tango De Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge! It's a program they debuted mid-season with the help of two-time Olympic ice dance champion Tessa Virtue.

"Skating to Moulin Rouge! obviously we were inspired by [Virtue's] iconic performance," Nagy said. "Meagan [Duhamel] reached out to her and she came, so it was great to have her help us with the intention and choreography. As an ice dancer, those are the kind of things we don't necessarily think about, so it was great to have her there and round the package if you will."

"It was a dream come true and such an honor for her to help us," Shin said. "She gave key points and character notes that helped with this program."

Program highlights for Shin and Nagy included Level 4 credit for their step sequence and program-ending lift.

"We were super proud of how we performed today," Shin said. "We have been training very well at home, and I think we were able to stay in the moment, stay present and do our best."

They began their partnership in May 2024.

2024 U.S. champions Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea secured third place, overcoming early mistakes to finish with a score of 67.13.

"I am definitely a little disappointed in how I skated," Kam said. "I thought we were well prepared and have been practicing well all week, but I'm also proud of how we were able to get every single point out of all the elements that we had left and got all the levels we were looking to get except for the twist. We did the best we could with the cards we had been dealt."

Kam and O'Shea, who train in Colorado Springs, Colorado, experienced a fall on their side-by-side triple Salchows and had problems with their throw triple loop. They recovered and received all Level 4s for the remaining elements for their routine to  K.D. Lang's "Hallelujah."

Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez sit fourth with 63.03 points.

For full results, how to watch information, bios and more, visit the U.S. Figure Skating website.