South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito falls to third at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships

The battle was supposed to be between the triple axel and the ballerina.

But in the end, it came down to who made the fewest mistakes Friday night at the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

Isabeau Levito, 16, the 2023 champion, uncharacteristically made the most errors, falling three times in the free skate and landing in third. She is from Mount Holly and trains in Mount Laurel.

Her biggest rival and friend, Amber Glenn, also had trouble, but finished the night with the gold medal.

Glenn had the highest base score with a triple axel. This meant that if both skaters landed all jumps, Glenn would have the higher technical score, although Levito still could have won with the balletic quality of her skating, particularly her strong footwork and spins.

The skaters performed in reverse order of their short program placements, so Glenn skated second to last and Levito, who had won the short program, went last.

Glenn, who often struggles to complete two clean programs, opened with her triple axel, landing it cleanly and earning 2.06 extra points in grade of execution.

But she still wasn’t safe. When Glenn first landed that jump internationally in October at Skate America, she lost focus and energy, and the rest of the program went downhill. This time, she continued on and looked to skate clean. Late in the program, though, she skated a double lutz instead of an intended triple lutz. She then popped an intended triple flip into a single flip.

» READ MORE: South Jersey’s Isabeau Levito edges out Amber Glenn in the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships

The title was Levito’s to lose.

And almost immediately, she fell on the second jump of her opening combination, a triple lutz-triple toe loop. And then she fell two more times.

A skater loses one point each for the first two times they fall but loses two points for a third fall. So that third fall is what really cost her.

But Levito got dinged a second time on one of the falls, a triple loop that was intended to be in combination with a double toe loop. Because she wasn’t able to complete the toe loop, she got credit for a triple loop. The problem was that she had already skated a triple loop earlier in the program, and it’s a violation of the well-balanced program requirement to repeat a triple jump except once in combination. So an element that had a base value of 4.08 only received 1.43 points.

Glenn was surprised as anyone that, despite her two pops, she ended the night as champion. Levito wound up with the bronze medal after placing fourth in the long program.

Josephine Lee won the free skate with a clean program and finished with the silver medal after taking fifth in the short program.

Sarah Everhardt also skated a clean program for a fourth-place finish after placing sixth in the short program. In the United States, fourth place wins the pewter medal.

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But even with the bronze, Levito almost certainly will be named to the team going to the World Championships in March in Montreal, Canada. The U.S. has two spots for women on the Worlds team, and Glenn undoubtedly will join her.

While Lee placed higher, she is 15, so she isn’t old enough to be on the Worlds team. There also is a range of criteria to choose Worlds and Olympic teams. It goes by placement at Nationals, international competitions, and previous world championships and Olympics.

Levito was the 2023 U.S. champion, fourth at the 2023 world championships, medaled at both of her Grand Prix competitions, including a gold at the Grand Prix de France, and got the silver medal at the 2023 Grand Prix Final.

The World team should be announced Sunday at the end of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.