‘06 world champ Kimmie Meissner withdraws from the Grand Prix

Kimmie Meissner

Kimmie Meissner, 2006 world champion, announced her withdrawal from her two Grand Prix events late Thursday afternoon. Meissner struggled on the series last year, placing 8th in both her events before withdrawing from the 2009 U.S. Championships due to injury.

“My knee had become chronically inflamed, swollen and painful,” Meissner said. “After some testing, along with an MRI, I was diagnosed with severe patellar tendonitis and a partial dislocation to my right knee cap.

“For the United States to be represented properly, especially during an Olympic year, I feel I must put my personal desire to compete aside.”

Meissner is best known for landing a triple axel at her first senior National Championship and her surprise upset at the 2006 World Championships. She also won a national title in 2007. However, in recent years Meissner struggled with a growth spurt, inconsistency, and injuries and has yet to regain the power that she held earlier in her career.

Due to the dates of her two Grand Prix events, Meissner was going to receive a bye through her required Regional and Sectional competitions. Unfortunately, her withdrawal from the Grand Prix means she will now be unable to compete in Spokane and fight for a spot on a second Olympic team.

While I’m sure this realization is upsetting for Meissner, most didn’t expect her to be a real threat this year‘s U.S. Championships. Over the past few seasons Meissner seemed to have developed a bad case of nerves and repeatedly fell in competition. After winning the national title in 2007, she slipped to 7th place the following season before announcing her decision to leave longtime coach, Pam Gregory. Meissner then moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to train under Richard Callaghan. Last season, the artistry and attention to detail that she previously lacked showed a marked improvement under Callaghan, but Meissner struggled with underrotations and consistency on her jumps.

The question now is whether or not Meissner will return to competitive skating. Shortly after Thursday’s press release she posted a quick note on her twitter page assuring fans that this injury doesn’t equal retirement. Realistically, though, Meissner’s best days and results in the sport are probably behind her. Winning the gold at her first World Championships was a huge accomplishment, but unfortunately it seemed like that burst of success at only sixteen may have been overwhelming for the young teen. Perhaps the realization of what that success meant and the pressure that comes from having to stay on top of such an ephemeral sport proved too much for her to handle. It is so easy to do well in skating when a skater feels no expectations or pressure, but the true test in this sport–a test that reigning world champion Yu-Na Kim will face next week in Paris–is whether or not a skater can stay at that top level and handle the expectations that come after a winning season.

My bet is that Meissner will probably announce her retirement at the end of this year. She is one of the only skaters at her level who is able to balance college courses and competitive skating. (Meissner is a student at the University of Delaware.) Getting back into shape and into the thick of things after taking two seasons away from competition is very, very tough. It’s too bad that her career might end on this note, but if feels she still has that competitive fire and drive inside of her, hopefully she will prove my prediction wrong.

If Meissner does choose to retire, she had something we don’t see often: a career in reverse. She peaked at the beginning and then spent years struggling to regain that standing. Even if Meissner doesn’t return to competitive skating and fails to win a second world or national title, she should leave the sport with her head held high. Kimmie Meissner achieved things very few skaters in the sport can say they have.