Meissner a triple threat as new season begins
Posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2006 at 3:06 amA year ago Kimmie Meissner was barely a blip on the figure skating radar screen. Now with a new Grand Prix season set to open next week at Skate America, the 17-year-old U.S. high school student is the headliner and number one target as her reign as world champion begins in earnest.
“I’ve been training hard,” said Meissner in a teleconference on Wednesday. “I have to work on my jumps but practice has been going well and I’m looking forward to doing Skate America for the first time.”
Meissner’s meteoric rise to the top of medal podium last season was nothing short of a figure skating fairy tale.
A silver medal effort at the U.S. nationals followed by a respectable sixth place at the Turin Olympics and a shock victory at her first world championships last year in Calgary, capped off a remarkable dream season.
Figure skating’s newest golden girl, Meissner spent a whirlwind summer filled with charity and television appearances, that included everything from throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day for the Philadelphia Phillies to appearing at ESPY Awards, where she was nominated for “Best Breakthrough Athlete” with Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin, New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul, and snowboarder Shaun “The Flying Tomato” White.
But now it is back to work for Meissner, who faces the additional challenge of trying to juggle life as a high school senior with the demands of a world champion.
With U.S. figure skating’s first lady Michelle Kwan taking at least one year off to concentrate on her studies and Olympic silver medallist Sasha Cohen having yet to commit to a full competitive schedule the burden to carrying the American flag falls on Meissner’s slender shoulders.
The season Meissner will probably try to fend off a strong Japanese challenge that will be led by high-flying Mao Asada, the athletic 15-year-old winner of last year’s grand prix final who was too young to skate at the Turin Winter Games.
In preparation for her title defense, which culminates next March in Tokyo, Meissner has spent the summer sharpening her triple axel.
Meissner first caught the attention of the skating public when she landed the rarely seen jump at the 2005 nationals, becoming the first U.S. woman to complete a triple Axel in competition since Tonya Harding.
But she did not use the triple axel last season and remains unsure if she will use it in her routine this year.
“I’m trying to get it consistent as possible and I feel like it’s at good spot,” said Meissner. “But it’s one of those jumps where I can’t say for certain if I’m going to try it.
“It’s a matter of how I feel that day.
“I want to try and do it in the grand prix, nationals there is more at stake, so the Grand Prix for me are the place to test it out.
“Mainly it is for personal satisfaction because I believe in myself and I know I can do.
“All the Japanese skaters can do it and I want to do it too.”
(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto // Reuters)