Davis and White lead U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame Class of 2020

Olympic ice dance champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White have been elected to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.

Olympic ice dance champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White have been elected to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Also elected to the Class of 2020 are World champion Kimmie Meissner and Olympic coach Kathy Casey, who will be inducted posthumously. Their inductions will be held Jan. 25 during the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“On behalf of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame, I am proud to announce the Class of 2020, which celebrates the greatness of our U.S. athletes and coaches,” nominating committee chair Larry Mondschein said. “Meryl Davis and Charlie White are the epitome of excellence and class, capping a long career by standing atop the Olympic podium in Sochi, Russia. Kimmie Meissner, who is the last U.S. lady to capture a World championship, won titles at almost every level, while Kathy Casey dedicated her life to the advancement of the sport and its training techniques.”

Meryl Davis and Charlie Davis are the first American ice dance team to win Olympic gold (2014) and the first to become World champions (2011, 2013). The three-time Olympic medalists (2014 gold, team-event bronze; 2010 silver) are the only ice dance team in the world to win five consecutive Grand Prix Finals (2009-13) and the first to receive Level 4s in each of their nine elements of the free dance (2006 NHK). Their six-consecutive U.S. titles (2009-14) remain a record. The Michigan natives are U.S. Figure Skating’s longest-tenured ice dance team (1997-2014), winning 30 titles in eight senior seasons and going undefeated in their final two seasons.

Kimmie Meissner is the 2006 World, 2007 Four Continents and 2007 U.S. champion. The Maryland native was the youngest U.S. athlete (age 16) at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, where she finished sixth. Meissner is among the few skaters to win the U.S. novice (2003), junior (2004) and senior (2007) titles. At age 15, she became only the second U.S. lady to land a triple Axel (2005 U.S. Championships). Meissner will make her return to the U.S. Championships in January as the coach of junior Mia Eckels.

Kathy Casey’s career spanned more than 50 years, advancing the biomechanical studies of jumps and helping skaters correct technical aspects of their performances. In 2005, she was the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sports Science Coach of the Year and was the official U.S. coach at three Olympics. Casey coached two-time U.S. champion Scott Davis (1993-94), who competed at three World Championships (1993-95) and the 1994 Olympic Winter Games. Casey, the Professional Skaters Association president from 1989 to 1994, was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2008. Casey died in Colorado Springs on Sept. 16, 2019, at age 79.

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