World silver medalist and 2023 U.S. figure skating champion Isabeau Levito will miss next week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kan., because of a foot injury. Levito was born in Philadelphia, lives in Mount Holly, and trains in Mount Laurel.
“I am heartbroken to say that I won’t be able to compete at Nationals this year due to a foot injury,” Levito wrote on Instagram. “This is not at all how I envisioned my season but I want to make sure I recover and come back fully without pain or limitations. Good luck to my competitors and friends competing and I hope to join them soon ❤️”
Levito started the season with two strong programs and a bronze medal at Skate America, one of the two grand prix competitions to which she was assigned this season. But just weeks later, she withdrew from her second grand prix, the ISU Grand Prix of Finland, for unspecified reasons. This meant she would not qualify to compete in the Grand Prix Final, which her friend and teammate, Amber Glenn, won.
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Levito is planning to petition for a spot on the team for the World Championships, a representative for the skater told NBC.
U.S. Figure Skating takes several criteria into account when selecting the Worlds team. It starts with placement at the U.S. championships, but placement at one competition alone does not decide the team. The top five athletes based on an accounting of placements at several previous competitions are taken into account, including events from the current season and prior season’s results.
Considering Levito’s bronze at Skate America, silver at last year’s Worlds, and bronze at last year’s Nationals, she almost certainly will be in the mix for consideration. Levito’s silver medal was the best by a U.S. woman at the World Championships since Ashley Wagner in 2016.
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An athlete also must prove competition readiness by performing their short and long programs before a panel of judges before the event and be checked out by U.S. Figure Skating medical personnel.
In 2022, Alysa Liu (who is making a comeback this year) and pairs team Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier made successful petitions to be included on the Winter Olympics team after Liu and Frazier tested positive for COVID at the U.S. Championships and were unable to compete.
Knierim and Frazier were among the skaters who initially placed second in the team event at the Olympics, but their medals were held because Russian skater Kamila Valieva had a positive drug test at Russian nationals just before the Olympics. After a long legal battle, the U.S. team, including Knierim and Frazier finally were awarded the gold medal this summer in Paris.