USA’s Isabeau Levito claimed the Women’s title at the 2022 World Junior Figure Skating Championships on Sunday in Tallinn, Estonia. Her teammates, Isabeau Thorngren and Kristen Jang, won bronze. Team Jia Shin of South Korea took the silver, while Team USA’s Lindsay Thorngren skated her way out of fourth place to capture the bronze.
Isabeau Levito wins gold medal in women’s free skate
Isabeau Levito of the United States won a gold medal in the women’s free skate at the World Junior Championships on Sunday. She was the first American woman to win a gold medal since Rachael Flatt in 2008. Jia Shin of South Korea, who was also in the top six, finished second overall. Lindsay Thorngren was fourth after the short program but moved up to third place in the free skate.
A teenager from the United States, Isabeau Levito began learning to skate at the age of three in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Her mother, a figure skating fan, put her in learn-to-skate classes. She started taking private lessons at age three. She is now training under former pair skater Yulia Kuznetsova. In 2018, she competed at the juvenile U.S. Figure Skating Championships and won a silver medal in the intermediate category. In 2020, she won a junior silver medal and a junior national title.
Isabeau Thorngren wins bronze medal
American skaters have dominated the junior level this season. Isabeau Levito won the Junior World Championships and Lindsay Thorngren won the bronze. Clare Seo climbed from tenth to sixth place, both putting forth personal best scores. Isabeau won the title by just a fraction of a point over Jia Shin. There were three Americans and one South Korean in the top six.
In a surprise move, Team USA has sent three skaters to the next level of competition. Isabeau Levito, 20, took the junior title in 2008, the same year that Rachael Flatt won the world juniors. Her teammate Lindsay Thorngren is the bronze medalist for the U.S. in 2020. Isabeau Thorngren has a promising future.
Team USA wins three more medals at world junior championships
After claiming the gold in the women’s event, the Americans capped a strong performance with three more golds. In addition to Levito’s gold, Lindsay Thorngren’s bronze and Oona and Gage Brown’s gold in ice dancing made the total four. Ilia Malinin won gold on Saturday, breaking the world junior record with two goals. The gold was Team USA’s third straight medal, and it is the third time the Americans have won the event in seven years.
Two of Team USA’s medals came in the women’s eight, where Bryce Andonian and Nora Goodwillie rowed in the final. The other two medals went to Connor Brown and Annalise Paquette. In the women’s eight, coxswains Lauren Peters and Nora Goodwillie were joined by Sofia Simone, Julietta Camahort, Mia Levy, Sophia Klessel, Cate Van Stone, and Elsa Hartman.
