Profile

Stats

Name Ross Miner

Born January 24, 1991

Birthplace Williston, Vt.

Hometown Watertown, Mass.

Training Town Boston, Mass.

Club The Skating Club of Boston

Coaches Peter Johansson, Mark Mitchell and Bobby Martin

Choreographer Jamie Isley

Bio

Ross Miner started skating in 1995, at age 3. Just one day short of celebrating his 18th birthday, Miner established himself as one of the rising stars of skating, using solid jumps and spins to win the 2009 U.S. Championship in the junior men's event in Cleveland and finish 10th at the World Junior Championships.

"I started skating with hockey but was intrigued by the figure skating sessions that took place after my hockey practice, so my mom bought me a pair of figure skates," said Miner, who played hockey for seven years. "They were white because my feet were so small and we had them dyed black."

After failing to qualify for the 2007 U.S. Championships with a fifth place finish at the Eastern Sectional Championships, Miner channeled his disappointment into his training. His hard work showed as he won Easterns in November 2007 and then second as a novice at the 2008 U.S. Championships. Following the nationals, he made the successful transition to juniors, winning the silver medal at the international Gardena Spring Trophy.

Following a successful junior international campaign that included the bronze medal at the 2009 Junior Grand Prix Final, Ross had planned to make his senior debut at the 2010 U.S. Championships in Spokane, Wash., but withdrew because of a sprained ankle that he sustained in practice at the Skating Club of Boston leading up to the event.

“I sprained it doing a triple Axel while I was running my program,” Miner said. After giving the injury a week to heal, hoping that he would be able to compete in his first senior event, he made the decision to withdraw. He was also named to the World Junior Championship team but later withdrew because of the same injury.

In 2010, he made his senior debut on the Grand Prix circut, placing ninth at the NHK Trophy but improving to seventh at the Cup of China. He made his senior national debut at the 2011 U.S. Championships in Greensboro, N.C., taking the bronze medal and earning a spot on the 2011 World Championship Team. He finished 11th at Worlds.

After working with coach Edmund Nesti and choreographer John Lee, he switched to current coaches Peter Johansson, Mark Mitchell and Bobby Martin and choreographer Jamie Isley at the Skating Club of Boston. A product of the U.S. Figure Skating Basic Skills Program, Miner has used his on-ice talent to benefit charities including the Jimmy Fund and the American Cancer Society.

In 2009, the Skating Club of Boston honored Miner with the Weld Award for most outstanding skater.

Miner received his high school diploma in 2009. The academic accomplishments that he has achieved include earning the John Hopkins Vermont Science Scholar award in 2003 and was awarded the Mary Louise Wright Memorial Scholarship in 2006. After attending college, he hopes pursue a health care profession.

His hobbies are tennis, guitar, golf and cycling. He also enjoys playing games, including Scrabble, and even invented a game "unimaginatively called Ping-Pong Tennis" with fellow Team USA skaters Stephen Carriere and Scott Smith. "It is basically tennis played with ping pong paddles and balls on a wood floor over a badminton net," he said.

Fast Facts

• I speak German.

• I love playing scrabble.

• I can solve a Rubik's Cube.

• I have an obsession with Ginger Ale.

• I love all sorts of racquet sports.