She looked around Bell Centre with wide, stunned eyes. Her mouth dropped open and then she smiled. A few minutes later, her silver medal was confirmed, making her only the second U.S. woman to medal at worlds since 2016 when Ashley Wagner also earned silver.
Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto continued her dominant run of the past three years with a near-flawless free skate that allowed her to easily win her third straight world championship. She is the first woman to win three straight since American Peggy Fleming nearly 60 years ago (1966 to 1968).
She has been the best female skater the entire season, winning all eight of her competitions.
But the 17-year-old Levito from Mount Holly, N.J., was in many ways the bigger story. Skating just an hour from the U.S. border, before a crowd with no shortage of waving American flags, she finally reached the potential many have believed she possessed. She landed all of her jumps, including seven triple jumps. All were not perfect but they were enough to keep her more than eight points ahead of Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim.
“I was just a little concerned after my six-minute warmup,” Levito said. “I didn’t feel like I did good out there and I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to do what I need to do today. So, yeah, I was in a little bit of disbelief afterwards. I was so happy.”
Her win comes nearly two months after a spectacular collapse at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Columbus, Ohio. There, she needed only to complete a solid free skate. Instead, she stumbled several times and finished third behind eventual champion Amber Glenn.
The silver Levito won Friday night was far more satisfying than the one at U.S. nationals and she celebrated in the emptying arena, grabbing an American flag from a fan and waving it aloft before draping it over her head. She stayed on the ice for a good 10 minutes after the medal ceremony carrying her flag and soaking in the medal.
Her silver automatically qualified a third spot for the Americans at next year’s worlds in Boston, a critical year because the United States will need three skaters to help qualify three spots for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“For me, it’s just the building blocks I’m putting up, more achievements on my way to the Olympics and having more experiences and becoming wiser so I can be the best I can be for the Olympics,” Levito said.
Glenn started well Friday, landing a triple axel, but faltered in the second half of her free skate and finished 10th.