At 16, South Jersey figure skater Isabeau Levito wraps up a successful season with team gold in Japan

At 16, South Jersey figure skater Isabeau Levito had a stellar first international competitive season, which culminated this weekend with a gold medal in Japan.

Levito was part of the eight-skater U.S. team that won gold at the ISU World Team Trophy on Saturday in Tokyo.

The home team, Japan, was expected to win going into the event, but the Americans wound up winning by a record-setting 25 points over Korea, which took silver. Japan got the bronze.

» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito lands just off the podium, finishes fourth at World Figure Skating Championships

Levito, the U.S. champion, finished third in the short program and fourth in the free skate, or long program, earning 17 of the 120 points.

The World Team Trophy is much like the team event at the Winter Olympics. Instead of competing solo, the skaters compile points for their country. They sat together, cheered for each other, performed little dances, and dressed up in their country’s colors (Levito often was seen wearing red sunglasses with star-shaped lenses and and a fluffy red, white, and blue boa).

Levito, who lives in Mount Holly and trains in Mount Laurel, skated nearly clean in both programs. In the short, she earned positive grades of execution for all elements except for the triple toe loop on the end of her triple lutz-triple toe loop combination. That jump was judged to be underrotated.

She had a similar result in the long program, but there the issue was with the triple loop on the end of her triple lutz-triple loop combination.

“So close!” Levito could be seen saying after she finished her long.

But at the end of the three-day competition, she and the rest of Team USA hugged each other and were presented with gold medals and laurel crowns.

» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito is just 15 — and she’s already a U.S. figure skating champion. Next up, the world?

This was the cap on the sort of year most competitors dream about. Levito earned silver in both of her Grand Prix events as well as the Grand Prix Final, won the U.S. championships, was named the International Skating Union’s best newcomer — and only finished off the podium once and by one place, landing fourth at last month’s world championships. (She withdrew from one competition, Four Continents, because of illness.)

“I feel really proud of myself,” Levito said after Worlds. “Yeah, there were some minor mistakes that bothered me. But, overall, it was a great event.”

She had been eager to go to Japan, which is known for having many enthusiastic fans, and she got to go twice in a month.

“They were fantastic,” Levito said of the audience at Worlds. “It was so sweet to see how the audience, they’re not just cheering for their own nation. They’re just they’re cheering for every skater. They’re, like, cheering for skating, you know, not just specific skaters.”

Her short program at the world championships earned her a standing ovation — which she enjoyed hearing about after the fact.

“It’s funny, because in the moment, I don’t really even see it all that well,” she said. “It’s almost as if you’re, like, zoned out. It’s a very interesting moment. But when I watched back the video, I saw other people standing up, and it was very nice. It seems very heartwarming.”

At most competitions, Levito spends a good deal of her time off the ice in the hotel, reading, knitting, or crocheting. She enjoys making stuffed animals and other projects for her friends. A green frog she crocheted for Amber Glenn made the rounds on social media.

» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Levito named International Skating Union’s best newcomer

But at Worlds, she also got to see a bit of Japan.

“I walked around a good deal, and I saw a bunch of different parks with the cherry blossoms,” she said. “And I walked by a few dog and cat cafes but I didn’t get to go inside them. Also a pig cafe, which, personally, I really like pigs. So I want to check that out next time.”

Levito took a “summer” vacation from school during the U.S. championships and Worlds but started 11th grade a few weeks ago. While online school is flexible, she’s taking a heavy load, including two AP classes (English and psychology) and two honors classes (U.S. history and algebra 2).

“My passions — like my hobbies, reading and crocheting — are really battling for my scarce free time now that I have skating and school, which is a lot of work,” she said. “And then I love my 10 hours of sleep. I don’t know how, but somehow I’m managing it pretty well.”

Now Levito has a few weeks at home before she hits the road again (with her schoolwork), this time touring with Stars on Ice along with most of the U.S. World Team Trophy skaters. The show will end June 4 in Hershey, the closest location to Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito claims silver at the Grand Prix Final in Italy

“I hope it will be so much fun. I’ve never done anything like it,” she said. But while she was the youngest one at the World Team Trophy — the next-youngest skater was Ilia Malinin, 18, and half of the team was over 30 — “I feel like I’ve gotten to know all of them. So I consider them all my friends.”

Later, she will go on vacation to Italy to visit relatives before gearing up for the next season.

If Levito appears to be a calm competitor, “no competition is exactly life or death,” she said. But if there was one element she could get overnight, “I would give myself a triple axel. That would be nice. That’s something extra.”

Stars on Ice. 4 p.m., June 4. Giant Center, 550 Hersheypark Drive, Hershey. $10-$150. starsonice.com