America’s newest golden girl seems much like any other 18-year-old. Kimmie Meissner of Bel Air, Md. is busy taking classes towards her undergraduate degree and keeps in touch with her high school friends by e-mail and phone. She is so close to her family that she decided to live at home while she attends the University of Delaware. She has a small horde of pets she adores and a sizable stuffed animal collection.

A recent milestone was getting her driver’s license. “I got it two weeks before I graduated from high school,” she told IFS during a November interview. “It was a goal of mine to drive to school one day, park my car and go to class.” Unlike her classmates, she drove to Fallston High School in a “company car,” a BMW 328xi she received from BMW of Bel Air, one of several businesses with which she has sponsorship deals.

And while a BMW is a valuable possession, Meissner has a stash of gold that could probably take a bit of the shine off of her luxury vehicle. In less than two years, she has collected gold medals at the 2006 World Championships, the 2007 U.S. Championships and 2007 Skate America.

Meissner will be looking to defend her national title in January in Saint Paul, Minn. “My goals for this year are to give a good performance every time I go out, to be consistent throughout the year, and bring out more of my personality in the performance part of it,” Meissner said. “It was one of my goals to win a Grand Prix event, and I did that, which is great. I can check that off right now. Nationals and Worlds are coming up and I just want to be really prepared for them.”

Family Support

The reigning U.S. ladies champion is the youngest of Paul and Judy Meissner’s four children. Kimmie is the couple’s only daughter. “From growing up with three brothers, I am a tomboy. I challenge them to do everything and they are always challenging me to these big races on the ice. But, they never actually put their skates on the ice,” she said with a laugh. “They are too scared. ‘Come on. Bring it to me.’ That is all I can say.”

Her coach, Pam Gregory, said having three brothers has helped Meissner toughen up. “That probably helped shape her competitive force,” Gregory noted. “She competed with them in everything.”

Meissner began skating at age 6 when her backyard froze, and soon she was participating in the U.S. Figure Skating Basic Skills Program. Gregory has been giving her lessons for approximately eight years and has been her head coach for the last six. The two have taken quite a ride together, and Meissner has steadily improved under Gregory’s tutelage.

In early 2003 Meissner accomplished one of her early goals when she reached the U.S. Championships. That year she won the ladies novice title. “Before that point, I was just trying to make it to nationals and I just wanted to improve,” Meissner said. “I had a long way to go. I kind of hit a point where it was like, ‘OK, I either need to improve or just stop.’ So then I started improving and I made it to nationals. Then from there I wanted to get to Junior Worlds and then it kind of progressively got bigger.”

The following season, Meissner medaled at her two Junior Grand Prix assignments and placed fifth at the JGP Final. She won the junior title at the 2004 U.S. Championships and placed an impressive second at the 2004 World Junior Championships.
Kimmie Meissner had arrived.

A Giant Leap

It was clear to Gregory that her young student had talent and loads of potential. In late 2004, Gregory told IFS she thought Meissner could finish anywhere from fourth through sixth at the 2005 national championships. The University of Delaware-based coach offhandedly mentioned that she felt Meissner could possibly do even better. Gregory was right.

Meissner, then just 15, stunned the skating world by landing a triple Axel at those championships. She ended up in third place. To this day, Meissner is one of only two U.S. ladies skaters to land the triple Axel in competition (Tonya Harding is the other).
It is an accomplishment that still ranks high for the Maryland native. “I was really excited to land that jump [in competition]. I had kind of just started working on it that year,” Meissner said. “I was just doing them really well at that competition in practices, so I kind of threw it in and happened to land it.”

At that time, she did not realize the magnitude of the accomplishment. “When I landed it I didn’t think it was a big deal. I was more excited about my entire program. It was a perfect program,” Meissner said. “I had nothing to lose and it was just kind of one of those great feelings. When you are that young, it is just like, ‘Whatever.’ I was up against Michelle (Kwan) and Sasha (Cohen), my idols. Here I am [competing against them]. It was fun.”

Too young to compete as a senior internationally, she placed third at the Junior Grand Prix Final that season and returned to Junior Worlds in 2005 where she placed fourth. The next season, however, would be a monumental one for the rising U.S. star.

A Year to Remember

In the fall of 2005 Meissner slowly started making a name for herself as a senior skater on the international scene. She placed fifth at both of her Grand Prix assignments, NHK Trophy and Trophée Eric Bompard.

With Kwan sitting out the U.S. Championships due to an injury, Meissner had a good shot at making it back onto the podium. There was plenty of pressure, though, with only three Olympic spots up for grabs, and Kwan planning to petition U.S. Figure Skating for one of them.

Meissner’s ticket to Torino was certainly not a given. That season, Alissa Czisny and Emily Hughes were both making names for themselves at the senior level. Czisny in particular was skating extremely well, mining silver at Skate America and capturing the gold medal at Skate Canada.

Meissner skated into second at the 2006 U.S. Championships, assuring herself a berth on the Olympic team. Cohen won the event and Hughes ended up in third.

Meissner skated into an impressive sixth place in Italy. “[When I started skating] I never thought that one day I would be there,” Meissner admitted in reference to the Games. “I set goals like, ‘I want to go to the Olympics,’ but it is different when you are actually there. Then it is like, ‘Wait a minute!’ You kind of do a double take. It is strange.”

While Meissner said the experience in Torino was amazing, the trip home was downright uncomfortable. “At the end of the Olympics, I had an unbelievable cold. I think I may have had the flu,” Meissner said. “When I flew back home, one of my eardrums fully ruptured and the other one partially ruptured.”

The medical issues had a negative effect on her skating as she trained for the 2006 World Championships. “It really threw off my balance when I was spinning,” Meissner said. “I was suffering from different things. It really affected my hearing. My coach would say, ‘Do a double Lutz,’ and I would yell, ‘What?’”

Despite the balance problems, Meissner skated well in the short program at her senior debut at the World Championships in Calgary. She was third heading into the free skate where she put down an amazing performance. Meissner, then just 16 years old, landed seven triple jumps, including two triple-triples, to claim the World title.



“We had one goal that season and that was getting on the Olympic team,” Gregory said. “Winning Worlds was just the icing on the cake.”

Meissner said that the entire season is a career highlight. “It was awesome. It was one big thing after another,” she said. “I didn’t expect to make it to the Olympics. I was planning on 2010 and then I ended up making it to Torino, which was pretty exciting. The Olympics really drained a lot out of me and I wasn’t thinking about Worlds. I surprised myself by doing as well as I did. That [whole time period] was definitely the highlight so far.”

Her victory at the 2006 World Championships put the pressure squarely on the young American skater.

“She had the skate of her life at the World Championships. That is what everyone wants to do at the biggest competitions,” said David Raith, executive director of U.S. Figure Skating. “That brought a lot more scrutiny and expectations but I think she handled it tremendously. She may not win every competition but she has a great attitude and always looks for the next opportunity to show what she can do.”

Meissner admitted that her career has had its ups and downs and her biggest triumph ended up bringing with it her biggest challenge. “When I won Worlds, I went from being the underdog to people expecting me to win everything I did after that. I was still young. Michelle Kwan was able to do that [at that age] but I was still trying to figure everything out,” Meissner said. “I think that was the roughest part for me, just that year afterwards. That whole year was difficult, going after every competition. I wanted to do really well, but it was just hard.”

Trials and Tribulations

Meissner opened up the 2006-07 season at Skate America where she faced off against Japan’s Mao Asada, who had won the Grand Prix Final the season before (but at that point was too young to compete at the 2006 Olympic Games or World Championships). Miki Ando, another Japanese star, was also in the ladies field.

Since both Asada and Meissner had landed triple Axels in competition, much of the pre-event hype focused on a rivalry between the two.

In the end it was Ando who rose to the occasion at 2006 Skate America and walked away with the gold medal. Meissner claimed silver, her first medal at a senior Grand Prix event, and Asada took the bronze.

“It is funny how the press tries to make it a big rivalry. Mao and I are actually pretty good friends,” the U.S. teenager said. “We did juniors together so if we go to [the same] competitions we always have fun together. I think we both push each other. With the triple Axels in practice, she will do one and then I will try and do one, then she’ll do one. It becomes fun. She is a lot more consistent at it than I am. But I am still working towards it.”

In yet another ironic twist, the triple Axel Meissner so unconsciously landed as a 15-year-old has become almost a personal albatross. “I get asked about it constantly: ‘Are you going to do it or are you not going to do it?’ I can only give the same answer: ‘I don’t really know.’ I still practice them. I can still do them, but it is one of my jumps that kind of comes and goes,” she said. “And under the new system, it is kind of hard to throw in a jump. If you are going to take that risk, you have to know that you are going to do it. It was different under the old system. Now you have to be pretty sure of yourself.”

The 2006 World champion placed third at Trophée Eric Bompard but failed to make the Grand Prix Final that December. “I think she did well. She won her first medals in the Grand Prix Series; those were firsts for her but people forget that,” her coach said. “[At that point] she had her best Grand Prix season.”

The silver lining came in the form of gold medals at the 2007 U.S. Championships and Four Continents. “For my hardest year,” Meissner said, “I still had a lot of good accomplishments.”

However, the year ended on a more difficult note when she finished fourth at the 2007 World Championships. Ando claimed the crown, Asada came in a close second and South Korean phenom Yu-Na Kim claimed the bronze.

“People do not remember that the girls that came in 1-2-3 [in 2007] were not at the World Championships the year before and Kimmie was competitive with them,” Gregory said. “She did not have her best free skate but it was still third best. Had she not won Worlds the year before, people would have thought it was an outstanding season.”

“It is difficult to stay at that level,” Raith said. “But Kimmie has a lot of support to help her get back there. Her goal is to build towards Vancouver [and the 2010 Olympic Games] and stay at the top.”

Meissner took one giant step in the right direction when she claimed the gold medal at 2007 Skate America. This time it was Ando who went home with a silver medal.



“It was really nice to win the gold. I thought it was special,” Meissner said. “For that competition, I was really excited about just going out there and doing a good short. For some reason, that doesn’t always happen for me. Then for my long I knew that I would have to work [and skate well] … so it was great.”

She also was happy to come out on top in the battle of the World champions. “That was nice that I got to come out first but it wasn’t really about that,” the American skater said. “It was about me and kind of levels I had and what needed to be worked on [to get that result].”

Gregory echoed those thoughts. “We take everything as it comes,” she said. “The most important thing for Kimmie is to be pleased with her performance level. That is the most gratifying thing.

“She is off to a good start. She has a good outlook. Mentally she feels like there is clarity,” Gregory added. “She feels good about herself and she is enjoying skating again.”

“I try not to look at it like I have rivals,” Meissner said. “I try and compete to beat my own scores. … I try not to look at it like, ‘I have to beat this person or I have to be ahead of her.’ That doesn’t work for me. I think I let that happen to me a little bit last year.”

The Big Prize

Ultimately, Meissner is eyeing the 2010 Olympic Games, but she doesn’t think it is positive to focus so much energy that far ahead. “I would love to go back to the Olympics,” she explained. “I had such an awesome time at my first Olympics so it would be awesome to go back again. I have to see if it works. I can’t get ahead of myself.”

Her coach thinks Meissner can accomplish anything. “The goal would be to try and win the Olympics,” Gregory stressed. “That isn’t any different than anyone’s goal, even the kids starting lessons now. That is the ultimate prize. Kimmie is refocusing and stepping up to the challenge. One thing about her is that if someone points out a weakness, she works on it. She has the work ethic that will allow her to succeed.”

Meissner uses her success to help others. This year for the first time she headlined her own show, with the profits going to the Cool Kids Campaign. She is co-founder and official ambassador for the Baltimore-based organization, which raises money to support pediatric oncology patients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical Center.



Meissner said she decided to become involved with the campaign due to the death of two of her friends from cancer. “To see their families and what they have to do every day and see how strong these kids are [spurred me on],” she said. “When Cool Kids approached me I thought, ‘This seems like something perfect that I can give back to the community that embraced me during the Olympics.’”

Raith said Meissner’s down-to-earth attitude is one thing that sets her apart from other U.S. ladies champions. “I think past champions have had that too, but Kimmie is the girl next door,” he said. “She is from a very good, very open family. With three older brothers and all of that, it makes it a family that we can all relate to.”

Meissner’s parents have instilled in her the value of education and having a life outside of figure skating. She attended a public high school as a full-time student. “My family and I purposely made sure that I stayed in school. I loved school,” she said. “I was always happy to have that separate outlet. I wasn’t just skating all the time.”

At the University of Delaware, she is currently taking three classes: English, psychology and philosophy. She plans to major in exercise science and hopes to one day become a physical therapist and work with athletes. But that doesn’t mean she plans to leave skating anytime soon, although the girl next door does have a fallback plan.

“I am going to try and skate as long as I can, if my skating takes me into the shows [and touring] for a while,” she said. “But my family has instilled in me that there has to be something after skating. Skating is what I do for fun but I also need to have something that will be like a job.”

The 2007 U.S. champion is a big animal lover. Samson, one of five family pets, enjoyed the attention showered on him by the teenager.



Kimmie Meissner relaxed in a nearby park shortly after winning 2007 Skate America last fall.



One of Kimmie Meissner’s favorite things to do is take her family’s two dogs for a run in a nearby park. Here she is seen with the family’s boxer, Caine.



When not traveling, Kimmie Meissner likes to stay close to her Bel Air, Md. home. She can often be found enjoying the great outdoors at a local county park.



The 2006 World champion has kept a few of the stuffed animals fans have thrown on the ice at competitions (most are donated to children’s hospitals). Family and friends help fill out the rest of her collection.