diff --git a/packages/shared/src/components/cards/Leaderboard/LeaderboardList.tsx b/packages/shared/src/components/cards/Leaderboard/LeaderboardList.tsx
index 6b84d44c8b..833b4834c3 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/components/cards/Leaderboard/LeaderboardList.tsx
+++ b/packages/shared/src/components/cards/Leaderboard/LeaderboardList.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import type { ReactElement, ReactNode } from 'react';
 import React from 'react';
 import { LeaderboardListContainer } from './LeaderboardListContainer';
 import type { LeaderboardListContainerProps } from './common';
-import classed from '../../../lib/classed';
 import { ElementPlaceholder } from '../../ElementPlaceholder';
 
 export interface CommonLeaderboardProps<T extends Iterable<unknown>>
@@ -17,9 +16,25 @@ export interface LeaderboardListProps {
   concatScore?: boolean;
 }
 
-const PlaceholderList = classed(
-  ElementPlaceholder,
-  'h-[1.6875rem] my-1.5 rounded-12',
+const LeaderboardPlaceholderItem = (): ReactElement => (
+  <li>
+    <div className="flex w-full flex-row items-center rounded-8 px-2">
+      {/* Score placeholder - matches LeaderboardListItem span (min-w-14) */}
+      <ElementPlaceholder className="inline-flex h-4 min-w-14 justify-center rounded-6" />
+      {/* Emoji placeholder - matches UserTopList emoji span (min-w-8 pl-1) */}
+      <ElementPlaceholder className="h-6 w-6 min-w-8 rounded-6 pl-1" />
+      {/* UserHighlight wrapper equivalent (p-2) */}
+      <div className="flex min-w-0 flex-shrink flex-row items-center p-2">
+        {/* Profile image placeholder */}
+        <ElementPlaceholder className="h-8 w-8 rounded-10" />
+        {/* Text content placeholder (ml-2) */}
+        <div className="ml-2 flex flex-1 flex-col gap-1">
+          <ElementPlaceholder className="h-3 w-24 rounded-6" />
+          <ElementPlaceholder className="h-2.5 w-16 rounded-6" />
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </li>
 );
 
 export function LeaderboardList({
@@ -29,8 +44,9 @@ export function LeaderboardList({
 }: LeaderboardListProps): ReactElement {
   return (
     <LeaderboardListContainer {...containerProps}>
-      {/* eslint-disable-next-line react/no-array-index-key */}
-      {isLoading && [...Array(10)].map((_, i) => <PlaceholderList key={i} />)}
+      {isLoading &&
+        /* eslint-disable-next-line react/no-array-index-key */
+        [...Array(10)].map((_, i) => <LeaderboardPlaceholderItem key={i} />)}
       {children}
     </LeaderboardListContainer>
   );