Meissner gears up for skating worlds

Posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 9:28 pm

Kimmie Meissner has the jumps down. Now she’s trying to make the rest of the program just as impressive.

“We’ve been working a lot on artistry,” Meissner said Wednesday.

Meissner, the new U.S. figure skating champion, is getting ready to defend her world title next month in Japan. She and coach Pam Gregory are trying to add more than just jumping to her performance.

Gregory said feedback from judges after Meissner’s recent U.S. national and Four Continent victories has been helpful.

“They’d like her not to look so mechanical,” said Gregory, adding that Meissner has been hitting her jumps consistently for about four years. “At a world level, you have to have it all.”

During a Wednesday workout at the University of Delaware, where she has trained for about nine years, Meissner concentrated on making her arm movements more fluid before turning her attention to jumps.

She flawlessly finished a couple of triple axels, but the 17-year-old skater has barely had time to enjoy the U.S. national title she won in January.

Meissner and Gregory won’t say if she will use the triple axel in Tokyo. She will be looking for an advantage on Japanese competitors Miki Ando, who beat Meissner at Skate America earlier this season, and Mao Asada - the second-place finisher at the Grand Prix final.

“I’m still doing them, still trying them, and still landing them,” Meissner said of the jumps. “I just can’t tell you right now whether or not I’m going to try it.

“I just want to end the season on a high note.”

Meissner will have more time to enjoy the U.S. title once she turns her attention toward things like high school graduation parties and getting her driver’s license.

Unlike last year, when she upset Sasha Cohen to win the world championship in Alberta, Meissner is now the one other skaters are targeting.

That doesn’t scare her.

“This season is brand new,” she said. “I’m practicing everything and just trying to get solid.”

Ron Ludington, director of Delaware’s Ice Skating Science Development Center, said Meissner has stayed grounded despite her success.

“Kimmie is no different on the ice than she was last year or the year before,” Ludington said. “She’s the most level kid. She hasn’t been carried away by everything that’s taken place.”

That doesn’t mean Meissner isn’t enjoying herself. She has signed endorsement deals with the Subway sandwich chain, athletic clothing company Under Armour and Visa.

Meissner recently flew to New York to shoot a TV commercial with Subway pitchman Jared Fogle.

“I had a great time, it was so cool,” she said. “He did a really good Napoleon Dynamite impression.”

BY RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press