When Mount Holly-based figure-skating phenomenon Isabeau Levito graced the cover of New Jersey Monthly in January 2024, the 16-year-old was working tirelessly toward the 2026 Olympics. Two years later, her goal has become reality.
Levito, a 2024 World silver medalist, will make her Olympic debut at the Milano Cortina Games in Italy, which kick off today. At 18, she’s the youngest member of the U.S. figure skating team.
“In competition, the majority of it is based on [the] mental, because physically, if you’ve been training right, you can do it,” Levito told NJM two years ago. “The only thing that’s keeping you from doing it is handling the nerves. It’s so important, especially when you’re out there on your own and everything’s on you, to be able to handle that and not let that just drown you.”
Isabeau Levito on the cover of NJM‘s January 2024 issue. Photo: Ronald Gray
Levito has been skating since she was a toddler. When she was nine, her mother removed her from school so she could devote more time to training. Her home rink is the Igloo in Mount Laurel.
In 2018, Levito won the U.S. juvenile championship. The following year, she earned silver in the intermediate division. In 2021, she became the U.S. junior champion. A year later, at the World Junior Championships in Estonia, she became the first U.S. world junior champion in 14 years.
In January 2022, in San Jose, California, she became the U.S. women’s champion. “[Winning the title] means the world to me,” Levito told us. “It was a milestone in my skating career. It was so important to me.” Two months later, she finished fourth at the World Championships.
Read all about NJM’s cover shoot with Levito here. Video: Amir Campbell
At the Olympics, Levito is slated to appear in the women’s short program on Tuesday, February 17, and the women’s free skate on Thursday, February 19.
In a poignant twist, she’ll be competing in her mother’s birthplace. “It’s a crazy coincidence,” Levito said two years ago of the location. “Some would say it’s fate.”
Levito isn’t the only athlete with New Jersey ties representing the U.S. in Italy. Princeton native Kelly Curtis, 37, will compete in the skeleton; Millburn resident Jess Perlmutter, 16, in the big air and slopestyle snowboarding events; Monroe native Brianna Schnorrbusch, 19, in snowboard cross; and former Monmouth University track star Bryan Sosoo, 29, on the bobsled team.
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