She looked around the Bell Center with wide, stunned eyes. He 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 over 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 to win three straight since American Peggy Fleming nearly 60 years ago (1966-1968).

She has been the best female skater all 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.

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 lost to 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 U.S. in next year’s worlds in Boston, a critical year because the U.S. will need three skaters to help qualify three spots for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Glenn started well Friday, landing a triple axel, but faltered in the second half of her free skate and finished 10th.