On Thursday, some of the best figure skaters in the world descended on Olympic City, USA. The Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is hosting the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships for the first time since
2012, and U.S. athletes have gotten off to a strong start.Â
The women's short program kicked off the competition with
Isabeau Levito pacing the U.S. women in second place, while
Jimmy Ma looks to earn his first major international medal, sitting in third after the men's short program.
WOMEN
The narrative around Levito this season has mostly been about pressure.
Pressure on the slight shoulders of the 15-year-old as the rising star of U.S. women's figure skating.
It followed her to her Grand Prix assignments, where she won two silver medals. It kept following her to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where she won another silver medal. It followed her to the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where she won her first senior title after winning at the junior (2021) and juvenile (2018) levels. And it's still following her at Four Continents.
But as the stages get bigger, Levito just keeps delivering.
Following the women's short program, Levito sits in second place, earning 71.50 points for her short program to "Una Noche Mas" by Yasmin Levy.
Yelim Kim of South Korea is in first with 72.84 points, while Chaeyeon Kim, also of South Korea, is third with 71.39 points.
Right behind them are Levito's U.S. teammates
Amber Glenn (fourth with 69.63 points) and
Bradie Tennell (fifth with 69.49 points).
Levito received positive grades of execution for each of her elements in the short program, including her triple Lutz-triple toe combination which earned nearly 12 points, and earned Level 4s on all of her spins and her step sequence.
"I haven't had much time to reflect on my program, but for the most part, I'm satisfied with my performance," Levito said.
The newly crowned U.S. Champion is making her Four Continents debut, and on a very tight turnaround after the U.S. Championships, which concluded less than two weeks ago.
While Levito told NBC's Tracy Wilson that she tries to mitigate the pressure by having "no thoughts, just vibes," she admits that it was a difficult thing to do.
"I definitely feel like U.S. Championships was a very stressful event for me, because I feel like I had a lot of pressure, and I had a very fixed goal in mind," Levito said.
And all that pressure is making things a bit easier on her now, as she heads into Friday's free skate just over a point out of first place – and also just two points out of fifth.
"I feel like the U.S. Championships was not really a warm-up, because it was very difficult, but I feel like I learned a lot from it, and it was such a great experience," Levito said. "And I'm very glad to have had this experience prior to this competition."
Currently in fourth place after her skate to "Hit the Road Jack" by 2Wei, Glenn is looking to better her only prior Four Continents result, a ninth-place finish in 2020.
"It wasn't as energetic as I wanted it to be," Glenn said of her skate. "It was a great crowd, and I wanted to be able to really have that energy and pump up, but it's been an exhausting turnaround from U.S. Championships. I feel like I wasn't able to fully do that, but I did get my job done. Just a little mistake on the loop."
That mistake was her only of the program. Glenn started with her strongest element, cleanly landing her opening triple flip-triple toe combination, and after a clean double Axel, received all Level 4s on her spins and step sequence.
The loop has been a bugaboo for the reigning U.S. bronze medalist as of late, and she admits it's been frustrating. But she's pleased to be in contention with the top women even with a mistake and is already looking ahead.
"That's the first thing that pops into your head, is, 'What if? What if? What if?'" Glenn said. "I was very happy with the marks I got. I just hope I can try and, at worlds, give a more enthusiastic performance."
Tennell, in fifth place, was emotional after finishing her skate to "Restrictus" by Mario Batkovic, arranged by Cedric Tour. The 2020 Four Continents bronze medalist missed the entire 2021-22 season due to injury and has been slowly working her way back into top form.
She underrotated her opening combination but received all Level 4s on her spins and step sequence, which she noted, is an improvement from the U.S. Championships.
"This whole year has kind of been super emotional, and the quick turnaround from U.S. Championships to here, and competing here for the first time since 2020, and having it be in my home country – there's a lot that's going through my head," Tennell said. "And I just have this burning desire within me to do the best that I possibly can and to skate the way that I know that I'm capable of. And today, I think my nerves got in the way of that a little bit. But I know I'm capable of more, and every time I go out there, I feel like I'm getting a little bit better. And I'm so excited for this opportunity, and I'm so grateful to be here, and I can't wait for the free tomorrow."
MEN
Could this be a long-awaited coming-out party for Ma?
After the men's short program at the Four Continents Championships, Ma sits in third place with 86.64 points, a new personal best in international competition.
He trails only Kao Miura of Japan's 91.90 points and Keegan Messing of Canada's 86.70 points.
Americans
Maxim Naumov and
Liam Kapeikis are in eighth and 13th place, respectively.
"Pretty winded," Ma joked when asked how he was feeling after his skate. "But I'm feeling happy. It's a program that I really wanted to end on a good note, which I didn't get to last year, so I'm really happy that I got to come back and do this again."
Indeed, Ma decided to switch back to the short program he had last season, set to music from
Black Swan. The last time he competed it was at the 2022 Four Continents Championships, his first appearance at the event, where he finished a disappointing 10th.
When Ma wasn't clicking with his new short program this season, he began watching his old short program, and the solution became obvious.
"I just kind of ran some sections, ran some sections," Ma said. "I called up (choreographer) Nikolai (Morozov) – I'm like, 'Let's pull the trigger. I want to do this. That program, even on paper, it's not me. I love it. Let's go for it.'"
And go for it he did. Ma nailed his opening quad toe and received Level 4s on his step sequence and all his spins.
A crowd favorite, Ma says the cheers are not lost on him, and in fact fortified him during a pressure situation.
"Being out there with those guys out there, I've competed against them all season and I know how immensely talented and hardworking they are, and how clutch they are in competition," Ma said. "So this morning in the warm-up, I felt the nerves. But then the energy that the crowd gave me, and my best friend's sitting out there, and she sends all the love in the world, and I built off of that. And definitely, it helped."
Naumov is in eighth place with 75.96 points after his skate to "Glimpse of Us" by Joji, during which he suffered from tripling a planned quad Salchow but earned high marks on his triple Lutz-triple toe combination, which received more than 11 points from the judges. The reigning U.S. pewter medalist is making his Four Continents debut.
"It was great," Naumov said. "Definitely something that I looked forward to doing when I was younger, for sure, like something I aspired to. Four Continents, Worlds, things like that. So I'm very happy to be here, to check it off the list. It's such a cool experience. But the job's not finished, so I've got to make sure to stay focused on the long."
Also making his Four Continents debut, Kapeikis is in 13th place with 71.43 points for his skate to music from
Mask of Zorro.
"It wasn't the best skate I've ever had, but it definitely wasn't the worst," Kapeikis said. "I really went out there and did kind of what I was sent here to do, which is just do the best I can and learn as much as I can while I'm here to help me in the future."
While Ma is currently the leading U.S. man, he's the first to remind everyone not to forget about his teammates.
"It's definitely a different feeling from before, especially at a championship-level event," Ma said. "So there's a wee bit of pressure on that end, but don't count those guys out yet. I train with Max all the time, and Liam, he's a great talent, young guy, and I know they're just going to kill it."
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