Team USA Earns Three Medals on Final Day of World Junior Championships

Team USA brought home three medals, including two golds, on the final day of the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Isabeau Levito was crowned world junior champion in the women's event and was joined on the podium by teammate Lindsay Thorngren who earned bronze. Oona Brown and Gage Brown clinched the gold medal in ice dance.

Over the course of the World Junior Championships, Team USA earned a total of four medals – the most since 2013 – including three of the four golds after Ilia Malinin claimed gold on Saturday.

This marks the first time since 2008 that the United States has won three World titles at Junior Worlds.

Levito, the 2022 U.S. bronze medalist, gave a clutch performance to secure the top step of the podium, winning gold by just over half a point over Jia Shin of Korea. She earned a positive grade of execution on every element and Level 4 on each of her three spins to score 134.05 for her free skate set to "Russian Dance" from Swan Lake by David Coucheron and totaled 206.55 points.

With the victory, Levito becomes the first world junior champion for Team USA since Rachael Flatt in 2008.

Jumping up to third place to earn bronze, Lindsay Thorngren set international personal bests in both her free skate and total score.

Performing to music from Queen's Gambit arranged by Cédric Tours, the 2020 U.S. junior champion nearly hit 200 points with 199.42, including 133.28 in her free skate, receiving a positive grade of execution on every element and earning all Level 4s.  

Levito and Thorngren become the first pair of U.S. skaters on the junior women's podium since 2009 and secured a third consecutive medal for the United States.

Clare Seo also had a career day with international personal bests in the free skate with 122.20 points and total score with 182.81. Finishing sixth, the reigning U.S. junior champion earned Level 4 on all her spins and took 11.11 points for her triple Lutz-triple toe combination.

In the ice dance competition, the Browns became world champions, leading an American contingent which saw all three U.S. teams finish in the top seven.

The title marks the second consecutive gold and 11th ever for Team USA at a World Junior Championships. A U.S. ice dance team has now medaled 10 of the last 11 times that the World Junior Championships have been contested.

After setting a personal best in the rhythm dance on Friday, the Browns extended their lead, setting new personal bests in the free dance and total score, shattering their previous personal best by more than 15 points with a combined 170.25.

Skating to "Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture" and "I Belong to You (+Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix)" by Muse, the three-time U.S. junior medalists won the free dance with 103.27 points.

They earned Level 4 on four of their elements – the spin combination, straight line lift, synchronized twizzles and rotational lift.

Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen also broke the 100-point mark in the free dance, claiming second place on the day with 100.22 points, but the strong effort was not enough to overcome their short program, and they finished just off the podium in fourth with 157.27 points.

The 2021 U.S. junior champions skated to "Rain in Your Black Eyes" by Ezio Bosso, and took Level 4 marks on three of their elements, including their lift, which was their highest-scored element, receiving 13.34 points.

With three Level 4 elements, Angela Ling and Caleb Wein totaled 153.98 points, including 92.55 for their free dance, for a seventh-place result.

The Browns were joined on the podium by the two Canadian teams. Natalie D'Alessandro and Bruce Waddell took silver with 162.56 points, and Nadiia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont secured bronze with 157.64 points.