Arlet Levandi

Arlet Levandi (born 28 November 2005) is an Estonian figure skater. He is the 2022 Tallink Hotels Cup champion and a two-time Estonian national silver medalist. At the junior level, he is the 2022 European Youth Olympic Festival champion, the 2021 JGP France II silver medalist, the 2021 JGP Slovenia silver medalist, and a 2020 Winter Youth Olympic champion in the team event. Levandi is the first men's singles skater from Estonia to win a Junior Grand Prix medal.

Personal life
Levandi was born on 28 November 2005, in Tallinn, Estonia, to Anna (née Kondrashova) and Allar Levandi. He has two older brothers. His mother competed in singles for the Soviet Union and is a two-time Olympian, the 1984 World silver medalist, and a four-time European bronze medalist (1984, 1986–88). His father is the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist and a 1987 World team bronze medalist in Nordic combined. Levandi attends school at the Old Town Education College and speaks fluent English.

He has cited Florent Amodio, Jason Brown, and Deniss Vasiljevs as his figure skating idols.

Early career
Levandi began skating in 2009. He is coached by his mother, Anna Levandi, a former Soviet figure skater, at her eponymous club in Tallinn.

Levandi is the 2017 Estonian national advanced novice bronze medalist and the 2018 Estonian national advanced novice silver medalist. At the advanced novice level Internationally, he is the 2018 Prague Riedell Ice Cup champion and a two-time Tallink Hotels Cup champion. Levandi did not compete during most of the 2018–19 season, including the 2019 Estonian Championships.

2019–20 season
Levandi made his junior international debut at the 2019 Halloween Cup in Budapest, where he finished fourth overall. He then earned fifth-place finishes at the Volvo Open Cup and the Tallinn Trophy before winning the bronze medal at the Golden Spin of Zagreb. Having missed the prior season, Levandi skipped the junior level entirely to compete at the senior level at the 2020 Estonian Championships. He finished fourth and was chosen to represent Estonia at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

At the Winter Youth Olympics, Levandi was thirteenth in the short program after issues with his blades, but scored eleventh in the free skate to finish twelfth overall. In the team event, he was chosen by draw as part of Team Courage alongside ladies' singles skater Kseniia Sinitsyna of Russia, pairs team Alina Butaeva and Luka Berulava of Georgia, and ice dancers Utana Yoshida and Shingo Nishiyama of Japan. Levandi finished seventh in the men's portion of the event, while Team Courage won the gold medal overall. He reflected on the event: "I was very happy with the draw, and now we are Youth Olympic champions."

2020–21 season
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing the cancellation of the Junior Grand Prix series, junior skaters had limited international competitive opportunities. Levandi began the season at the Tallinn Open Championships before he competed at the inaugural Budapest Trophy, where he won the gold medal. He then won the gold medal at the Tallinn Trophy. Competing at the senior level at the 2021 Estonian Championships, Levandi was third in the short program and second in the free skate to win the silver medal. He finished his season with another gold medal win at the Tallink Hotels Cup.

2021–22 season
Levandi began his season on the Junior Grand Prix. He won the silver medal at the 2021 JGP France II, becoming the first Estonian man to medal at an ISU Junior Grand Prix event. With his teammates Solène Mazingue and Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko winning bronze in ice dance, it was Estonia's first multi-medal performance on the JGP since the 2006 JGP Czech Republic. At his second JGP event in Slovenia, Levandi rebounded from sixth after the short program to finish second in the free skate and overall to win his second silver medal of the series. However, he did not qualify for the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final due to the unique qualification procedure implemented as a result of the pandemic.

Levandi also made his senior international debut this season at the 2021 Lombardia Trophy, earning personal bests in the short program and combined total to finish seventh overall. At his second Challenger Series event, the 2021 Finlandia Trophy, he again scored new personal bests to place seventh overall. Levandi again improved his short program personal best at the 2021 Cup of Austria en route to a sixth-place finish.

Levandi won the silver medal at the Estonian Championships in December. The following month, he qualified to the free skate at the 2022 European Championships in his hometown of Tallinn, where he finished in fourteenth place. Levandi was not selected for the Olympic or the World Championships teams, but was named to the 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival and the 2022 World Junior Championships teams.

Levandi returned to the junior level at the 2022 European Youth Olympic Festival, where he finished first in both segments to comfortably win the gold medal by over 20 points. He concluded his season at the 2022 World Junior Championships, again in front of a home crowd in Tallinn, where he finished in twelfth place.

2022–23 season
Levandi competed in several Challenger Series events to begin the season, finishing seventh at the 2022 U.S. International Classic, tenth at the 2022 Finlandia Trophy, and fourteenth at the 2022 Warsaw Cup. Making his Grand Prix debut, he finished seventh at the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo.

At the 2023 Estonian Championships, Levandi won the bronze medal at the senior level and the gold medal at the junior level. He then went on to win gold medals at both the 2023 Volvo Open Cup and the 2023 Tallink Hotels Cup.

Selected to compete at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary, Canada, Levandi finished in ninth place.

2023–24 season
Levandi began the season by finishing eighth at both the 2023 Lombardia Trophy and the 2023 Finlandia Trophy, before finishing fourth at the 2023 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge. He was invited to compete on the Grand Prix at the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, where he finished in tenth place.

At the 2024 World Junior Championships, Levandi finished in seventh place. He said that he felt he had made progress that season by landing more difficult jumps in practice, though not yet in competition, and this would be his focus during the off-season.

Competitive highlights



 * GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
 * JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
 * CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
 * Medals at team events are awarded for the team results only. Individual placements at team events are listed in parentheses.