South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito earns silver medal at the World Figure Skating Championships

MONTREAL — The 2024 World Figure Skating Championships were redemption time for South Jersey figure skater Isabeau Levito.

The 2023 U.S. figure skating champion, who lives in Mount Holly and trains in Mount Laurel, lost her title in January in Columbus, Ohio. She was plagued by nerves before the competition even started, she said, and fell to third to her teammate and friend, Amber Glenn.

Nor did she feel especially confident this week in Montreal. But on Friday night, she won the silver medal, her first of any color on the world stage. Levito’s silver medal was the best by a U.S. woman at the World Championships since Ashley Wagner in 2016.

Kaori Sakamoto, of Japan, three-peated as world champion (becoming the first woman to do so since Peggy Fleming in 1968). Chaeyeon Kim, of Korea, placed third.

Levito, who turned 17 this month, looked delighted at the end of both programs.

“I feel like I had a very rough season, and I was so disappointed myself for a lot of the season,” she said in a press conference following the medal ceremony. “I was so confused with how I was skating, but I’m really proud of myself, my team of coaches, with all the consistent training and hard training we’ve been doing. To deserve a medal like this at the World Championships is everything to me right now.”

Going into the free skate (or long program), Loena Hendrickx, from Belgium, was in first place. She was last year’s bronze medalist and had a three-point lead over Levito. But she skated cautiously in the free skate and fell to fourth overall.

» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito is looking for redemption at Worlds this week in Montreal

Sakamoto had been fourth in the short because of a few uncharacteristic mistakes and came back in the long with a powerful program to swap places with Hendrickx, who placed eighth in the long.

Haein Lee, last year’s silver medalist, was Levito’s biggest competition. In the short program, she was just 18 one-hundredths of a point behind the American. But she skated a cautious, error-filled long program that resulted in her falling to 12th in the long program and sixth overall.

Kim was sixth in the short program, and placed third in the long.

So it was Levito’s to lose. But even before she took the ice, she had doubts.

“I knew that physically I can do this program so well, so easily, and so nicely from start to finish,” she said, “and especially with all the training that I have been doing recently.

“I just was a little concerned after my six-minute warm-up. I didn’t feel like I did good on that, and I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to do what I needed to do today.”

But she pulled it off.

None of the skaters performed a flawless program, but Levito landed all jumps, although both of her triple lutzes (one in combination with a triple toe loop) were called for changes of edge going into the jumps and given negative grades of execution.

Her program was fairly close to being clean. It was closer to being flawless compared to the majority of the skaters who performed.

» READ MORE: Competitors are not always rivals. Just ask the top American women’s figure skaters, Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn.

Besides the podium placement, Levito had a second goal at the world championships, although she said it wasn’t her primary stressor. She and Glenn were charged with earning a third berth in the women’s event at next year’s Worlds, which would set up the American team even better going into the 2026 Winter Olympics (which will be held in Torino, Italy, where Levito’s grandmother lives).

In order to earn that third spot, Levito’s and Glenn’s placements must add up to no higher than 13. But Glenn fell on a triple loop in the short program, which landed her in ninth place. And despite opening her long program with a strong triple axel, she lost steam as the program went on and popped two jumps. She placed 11th in the long program and 10th overall.

So it was on Levito’s shoulders to win that spot.

But she not only earned it. She earned it in different ways. By placing second, her and Glenn’s placements added up to 13.

In addition, if a skater places first or second, her country automatically gets three spots the following year.

So while it wasn’t on the top of her mind going into her program, Levito saved the day, which puts her in a good position looking ahead to Torino.

“I feel like it’s just I’m picking up more achievements on my way to the Olympics … learning more experiences and becoming wiser and so that I can be the best that I can be by the time of the Olympics,” she said.

Wins like this also show U.S. Figure Skating she is a skater they can trust. Again, it’s building blocks toward her ultimate goal.