Isabeau Levito is approaching figure skating national championships with a new attitude

The last time Isabeau Levito was at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, she was coming off of promising performances in the Grand Prix. She went on to win the national championships, took fourth at the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships, and showed she belonged among women’s figure skating’s best.

Now, she is back at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, looking to defend her title. Levito will compete on Thursday (25 January) and Friday (26 January) in Columbus, Ohio, with a refreshed mindset.

“I feel like last year I didn't have really much to lose. I felt like I was just going to hopefully win the title. And this year, for a while I was really nervous about nationals because I was thinking of it like, oh, I don't want to lose my title because it almost felt like if I wouldn't win this nationals,” Levito said in a call with media.

“Part of me, was just so focused that I had to win this year because I won last year. But I've actually been thinking about it just as going in and to see if I can win again rather than like it has nothing to do with the fact that I won last year.”

How Isabeau Levito changed her mindset

Just weeks after winning her first national championships, Levito found herself feeling anxious about winning the next one. She sought the help of a sports psychologist, who helped her reframe her thinking about winning championships. Now, Levito looks at this as a brand new event.

“It was really stressing me out to the point where like, I think about it in my sleep, and I feel tense. I was already thinking about how stressed I would be for the next nationals, knowing that I felt like not winning would be losing something,” the 16-year-old Levito said.

“No matter what I do this year, I still won nationals last year. So now it's just up to me to see if I can win it again. So she kind of just reminded me to just think of it as a short and a long program, just a normal competition, which has been helpful.”

How mistakes have helped Isabeau Levito

Levito’s season so far has been successful. She won the Grand Prix of France, and took second at Skate America. The Grand Prix Final, though, was not as memorable, where she had a rough short program and finished fifth.

“After that short program, I felt like there was truly nothing left to lose. And I was like okay, my chances of really getting a medal out of this competition are kind of gone. So I just regrouped and thought of skating the long program for myself and almost using it as a practice for my next competition,” she said.

The mistakes that happened at the Grand Prix Final in December helped set her up for a better competition at nationals in January.

“I almost didn't really feel nervous going into the long program at the Grand Prix final since there wasn't really anything to lose. So I just went and skated a long program that I would normally skate on a practice... that showed myself that I can do a program of that quality at a competition and I hope it'll give me more confidence going into nationals.”

Nationals help decide who will represent the U.S. at the world championships in Montreal in March. Levito finished just off the podium at the 2023 Worlds. But before she thinks about what comes after nationals, Levito is focused on performing well, regardless of the scores.

“I expect myself to deliver programs with less worrying. Just going out there and not thinking about oh, what if I messed up a triple-triple today. No, just go into every jump and if something like that happens, oh well. I just kind of have to let loose and really just go for things instead of just retreating to this comfortable spot.”