Meissner makes the leap to world championship

The University of Delaware is home to the 2006 International Skating Union’s ladies world figure skating champion, 16-year-old Kimmie Meissner.

Meissner, a member of the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club who trains at the UD Ice Skating Science Development Center with coach Pam Gregory, stunned the world with a flawless performance March 25 in Calgary, Alberta, to win the world title.

In so doing, Meissner skated past second-place Fumie Suguri of Japan and third-place Sasha Cohen of the United States by landing seven triple jumps, including two triple-triple combinations. As she drew near the end of her long program, Meissner broke into a huge smile, knowing she had just skated one of the best performances of her career.

After the long program, Meissner and Gregory celebrated as the scores were announced, with Meissner holding several stuffed animals presented her by fans and Gregory holding her skater’s UD blue and gold blade guards.

Meissner said following the event that she felt “awesome,” both with her effort and with the outcome.

The year 2006 has marked a gala debut for Meissner as she competed in the Winter Olympics—the youngest member of the U.S. team—in Turin, Italy, and then made
her stunning foray into the bright lights of international senior ladies competition in Calgary.

Meissner, a student at Fallston High School in nearby Maryland who has trained with Gregory at UD for eight years, got her season off on the right foot by winning the silver medal in the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships held in January in St. Louis. That second-place finish earned her a berth on the U.S. Olympic Team.

In Turin, she made a terrific impression both on the air, during energetic interviews with Katie Couric, and on the ice, with a solid short program that gave her a shot at a medal leading into the free skate, or long program. Meissner ultimately finished in sixth place and won millions of fans worldwide. She also won several endorsement offers, including a deal with Subway, where she eats frequently as she makes the commute from her home near Bel Air to the UD ice rinks.

Capturing the imagination of fans was Meissner’s refreshing candor and enthusiasm. “I don’t try to skate for medals,” she says. “I skate because I love it.”

Ron Ludington, director of UD’s Ice Skating Science Development Center and an Olympian himself, says Meissner has been a tremendous role model for the other elite skaters in the UD program.

“Her passion for what she does is the big thing about Kimmie that really stands out for me,” he says. “She can have a bad day on the ice, but you would never know it. Her attitude never changes.”

Gregory attributes Meissner’s success to a true enjoyment not just of competition but also of the work that leads up to that competition. “She has this incredible work ethic,” Gregory says. “Her attitude on the ice is always positive. She truly enjoys the process.”

Meissner took up figure skating after spending time at ice rinks, where her older brothers, Nate, Adam and Luke, played hockey. Hoping to retain her front teeth, she decided to take a different path in skating and turned to figures. The family soon realized she had a chance to achieve something special and began making a daily commute to train at UD.

During an overflow pre-Olympic press conference at the Fred Rust Ice Arena in January, skater and coach admitted they did not hit it off immediately. “When we started out, I had Kimmie work on fundamentals for at least 40 minutes each day,” Gregory says. “At first Kimmie was not very receptive, but we just kept hammering away at it.”

The hard work has paid off, with Meissner serving notice that she will be a force to be reckoned with at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, as well as at the ISU World Championships the next several years.

In a column in the Baltimore Sun, Rick Maese wrote after the world championship performance that Meissner inherited something special in taking on the mantle of American figure skating.

“She’s the new darling, a teen idol who will endear herself equally to grandmothers and granddaughters,” he wrote. “You can trace the royal lineage back to [Peggy] Fleming, who was followed by Dorothy Hamill, Kristi Yamaguchi and, most recently, Michelle Kwan. These were skaters who transcended their sport, who became iconic for both their smile and their success. Meissner is now poised in front of this very height.” 

— Neil Thomas, AS ’76