Isabeau Levito Clinches First U.S. Senior Title with Career Bests in San Jose

The last time Isabeau Levito missed finishing on a podium at a skating event was all the way back in 2016, when she finished in 11th place as a juvenile at the 2017 Eastern Sectional Championships.
 
On Friday, the 15-year-old continued that streak and captured her first senior women's title at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California. Levito held off a strong challenge by two-time U.S. champion Bradie Tennell, who finished with the silver medal, the fifth podium finish at the senior level for the 24-year-old. Amber Glenn moved up from fourth place after the short program to win the bronze medal, while 21-year-old Starr Andrews finished with the pewter medal, making history in the process as the first Black skater to finish on the podium in the women's senior event at a U.S. Championships since Debi Thomas in 1988.
 
Looking for his first U.S. title, Ilia Malinin leads the men's competition after skating the best short program of his career and earning a new personal best score. Two-time Olympian Jason Brown made his return to competition after finishing in sixth place at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and stands in second place. Tomoki Hiwatashi, the 2019 World Junior champion who missed last year's Championships due to a COVID-19 diagnosis, finished in third.
 
Championship Women's Free Skate

Levito reinforced why she won the silver medal at last month's Grand Prix Final in Torino, Italy, masterfully and yet somehow casually ticking off difficult elements in her "Dulcea Si Tandra Mea Fiara" (Catalina Caraus and Eugen Doga) program. The gold medalist landed seven clean triple jumps, including two triple Lutz combinations, the first in tandem with a triple toe loop and the second in sequence with a single loop and triple Salchow.
 
"I feel as though this entire season I haven't been my absolute best in my free skate," the reigning World Junior champion said. "I finally was able to perform my free skate the way I've been training and working toward this entire season. I actually can't even find the words to describe it right now and I just felt so glad that I finally did it and it was like in this competition."
 
But Levito's program was more than just about the jumps — the New Jersey native also collected the coveted Level Four designation on each of her spins and her step sequence. She was also awarded the highest program component scores of the competition.
 
"I feel so proud," said the champion. "I am so proud of myself for collecting myself to be able to do the program that I needed to do."
 
Levito earned 149.55 points in the free skate and 223.33 points overall, the fourth best total in U.S. Championships history. Both scores are new personal bests for the gold medalist, who earned positive grades of execution in both her short program and free skate in San Jose.
 
After withdrawing from these Championships last year due to a foot injury, Tennell was adamant about getting back to form to compete in San Jose. The now five-time U.S. Championships medalist at the senior level took a cautious approach to the competition season, and now that she is back on the podium, she admitted that this medal holds a special place in her heart.
 
"I would say that this (medal) probably means the most," Tennell said. "I've said it, but I didn't think that I was going to be able to do this again. To be here and to have this medal, especially with all of the bumps that I had to overcome earlier this year, I am very proud of what I accomplished here."
 
Skating a climate change themed program to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," Tennell's first hurdle was a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, which she landed with ease. She was credited with three more clean triple jumps but underrotated the back half of a double Axel-triple toe loop combination and doubled an intended triple Lutz. Like Levito, she earned Level Fours on each of her spins and her step sequence.
 
"Obviously, I am a little disappointed with the errors, but given how this season has gone and how my road to get back to competing has gone, I think I have a lot to be proud of," she said. "I was giving myself a pep talk in the mirror earlier, because that is what I do, and I said to myself, 'You dreamed of this for an entire year, and now you are here.' I told myself I wanted to go out there and soak up every moment and be present and I did that. Even with the mistakes, I am proud of myself."
 
Tennell logged 139.36 points in the free skate and finished with a competition total of 213.12 points.
 
Glenn started her program with a step out on a fully rotated triple Axel attempt, but quickly regained her composure and executed a triple flip-triple toe loop combination.
 
"I'm very happy with what I did, but I am disappointed with the mistakes that I made on very silly minor things," she said. "Honestly it was terrifying being back here after the conclusion of my season last year. It was just a big mental hurdle for me. I am happy that I was able to enjoy myself again and enjoy competing."
 
The bronze medalist landed four more triple jumps in her 'Without You" by Ursine Vulpine and Annaca program and earned Level Fours on each of her spins and the step sequence. As she left the ice, Glenn held her hip as if she might have injured it. After the competition, however, she admitted that it was just a minor inconvenience.
 
"An unfortunate side effect of being 23 and doing these ultra-c elements is my body can't always keep up," Glenn explained. "It's one of the reasons why I'm so grateful that I'm in Colorado and I have the Olympic Training Center so close by. I do physical therapy twice a week. I work with physical trainers. I do my best to keep my body strong, but the force that comes down from a triple Axel and landing that day after day in high volumes it will start to get sore.  I've made sure that it's not injury of any sort. It just like it feels like it needs to pop — if you've had a long day when you're sitting for a long time that's how feels."
 
Glenn racked up 138.48 points in her free skate and finished the competition with 207.44 points.
 
Andrews was overwhelmed when she learned that she would stand on the U.S. Championships podium for the first time, becoming the first Black woman to do so in 35 years.
 
"I had no clue that it had been so long," she said after learning of her accomplishment. "I'm just so happy that I got a medal today. After I finished the program, I thought I messed it up after popping two jumps. When they said my score, I realized that I earned a place on the podium.
 
 "The legacy behind that is incredible, and to be able to be the next is amazing. I wish I had done better, but it's still an amazing accomplishment. To come where I have in the last two Championships, I am so excited to see where my career can go."
 
Though it was not a perfect performance, Andrews did enough to earn the pewter medal. Skating to Laura Fabian's "Je Suis Malade," the 2017 U.S. junior women's silver medalist reeled off five clean triple jumps. Her free skate score of 119.27 points and total score of 188.24 points are new career bests.
 
Championship Men's Short Program

Malinin has been plagued by mistakes in the short program all season long, but the 18-year-old put an end to that Friday with a technically brilliant and entertaining routine to Garou's "I Put a Spell on You."
 
"This season all the short programs have been really tough, and I think that we took every single one of them and thought about where we need to work and what to improve," he said. "We really focused on those points, and I think that it really helped out with today's performance. I'm surprised how I've managed to pull it off. It was a very good journey – a long journey, and I think I gave it my shot and it shows.
 
The reigning U.S. silver medalist made good on his "Quad God" social media moniker, landing two different quadruple jumps in his program — an opening quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination and a solo quadruple toe loop.
 
But the program was more than just about the big-ticket items. The Virginia native showed remarkable improvement in his storytelling, captivating the audience with his flirty choreography. Malinin shared that it is something that he has been working on a lot this season.
 
"It was always the component of trying to add a lot more creativity and a lot more artistry into my skating," he said. "Now that the jumps are a little bit easier, it's really convenient for me to that I'm able to perform those jumps very well, but to also to start making sure that the artistic side that everything is looking nice and clean."
 
In addition to the quad jumps, Malinin hit his triple Axel and earned Level Four on each of his spins and the step sequence. He finished with a personal best of 110.36 points, more than 10 points higher than Brown.
 
The consummate artiste of the field, Brown's "Melancholy" (Alexey Kosenko) program was exactly what the skating world has grown to expect from the 2015 U.S. champion. With longtime choreographer Rohene Ward, Brown created a captivating program that he calls "Reflection" to share an intimate perspective of his journey in the sport. Part of that story is about his sixth-place finish in this very arena at the 2018 U.S. Championships, which ended his run for an Olympic team berth that season.
 
"I'm happy to have that under my belt. It felt great," the Olympic Team Event bronze medalist said. "I love that short program so much. The meaning behind it means so much, and then being able to do that in this rink especially is a personal moment for me to be able to do that."
 
Brown admitted that he is unable to train as he once did when he was younger, so instead of focusing on repetition, he has taken a new approach to his preparations to keep him in peak competition shape.
 
"When you do shows, you have to be adaptable. You have to work on the fly, and you're working on a smaller rink. I think all of those things are all components that I am able to apply to the competition ice," he shared. "It's just performance in a different way. The elements and requirements are slightly different but the mentality of being able to work with the nerves and the environment around you and play off of that is the same. I really took that and went with it today."
 
Brown landed four clean triple jumps in his program and coupled that with nearly perfect program component scores and Level Four spins and steps. The 28-year-old earned a score of 100.25 points, which less than a point off his personal best from the 2020 U.S. Championships.
 
After some early-season struggles, Hiwatashi seemingly turned the corner with his best short program since he captured the bronze medal at the 2020 U.S. Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. With coach Damon Allen, the 23-year-old retooled his approach to the short program in advance of his Grand Prix events and reaped the rewards with his third-place finish.
 
"Right before the Grand Prix events, I decided to take out my quad Salchow and originally, I wasn't very comfortable with that," he admitted. "I really wanted to kind of put it all out, but after everything we decided to stick with just one quad in the short program."
 
Hiwatashi stuck with the plan — he opened with a quadruple toe loop, landed his triple Axel and closed out the jumps with a late-program triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination.
 
"After the Grand Prix, I was really just [angry] at myself and I felt like I really needed to work hard and pushed myself for the next six weeks leading up to here," he said. "I feel like I was able to put it all out there. I've got a lot of things going on still, but I feel like I was still able to kind of push it and let everything happen."
 
Skating to Hans Zimmer's "Romani Holiday," Hiwatashi earned 85.43 points in the short program competition.
 
Liam Kapeikis, seventh a year ago, stands in fourth place thanks to a personal best score of 82.27 points.
 
U.S. titles are on the line tomorrow in the championship pairs and ice dance events. For full results, bios, news and more, visit the 2023 Toyota U.S. Championships Competition Central.