South Jersey figure skater Isabeau Levito is headed back to the World Championships
Levito withdrew from this week’s nationals with a foot injury. She must prove she is healthy and has trained enough to compete at Worlds.
WICHITA, Kan. — World silver medalist Isabeau Levito was unable to skate at this week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but she was still named to the U.S. team for the World Figure Skating Championships, which are in March in Boston.
Levito, 17, last week withdrew from nationals, which run through Sunday in Wichita, Kan., with a foot injury.
But the Mount Holly resident who trains in Mount Laurel still was one of three selected for the women’s singles competition at the worlds, which run from March 25-30. She was chosen after petitioning to be included based on her past performances.
In Levito’s absence, the U.S. champions were crowned Friday night. Amber Glenn repeated as champion. Alysa Liu, the 2022 world bronze medalist and Olympian who made a comeback this season, earned the silver. They will join Levito on the team.
Sarah Everhardt, last year’s pewter medalist (which is fourth place domestically in figure skating) moved up to the bronze this time. Bradie Tennell, a 2018 Olympian and two-time U.S. champion (in 2018 and 2021) earned the pewter medal.
But Levito’s spot on the team is not guaranteed. First, she must prove she is healthy and trained enough to compete at worlds.
» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito is out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships because of a foot injury
An athlete who does not compete at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships but petitions to be included on the world team must prove competition readiness by performing their short and long programs before a panel of judges before the event and be checked out by U.S. Figure Skating medical personnel.
U.S. Figure Skating takes several criteria into account when selecting the worlds team. It starts with placement at the U.S. championships, but placement at one competition alone does not decide the team. The top five athletes based on an accounting of placements at several previous competitions are taken into account, including events from the current season and prior season’s results.
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Levito won the bronze medal in October at Skate America, silver at last year’s worlds, and bronze at last year’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Her silver medal was the best by a U.S. woman at the World Championships since Ashley Wagner in 2016. (She also was the 2023 U.S. champion and the 2022 world junior champion, although older results are not included among the selection criteria.)
If Levito is unable to compete, Everhardt is the first alternate, and Tennell is the second alternate. Starr Andrews is the third alternate. Andrews placed sixth, but the fifth-place skater, Sherry Zhang, at 16, is too young to qualify for senior international figure skating events, which start at age 17.
» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito earns silver medal at the World Figure Skating Championships
The 2025 worlds are particularly important because this is where countries qualify numbers of skaters for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. The placements of the top two competitors at worlds must add up to no higher than 13 to earn the maximum three spots at the next year’s Olympics or worlds in any discipline (women, men, pairs, or ice dance).
This year’s world team earned those three spots in two ways: Levito placed second, and Glenn was 11th at the 2024 worlds. But also if a skater places first or second, their country automatically gets three spots the following year.