Drew Meekins (born April 10, 1985) is an American retired pairs skater and choreographer. With former partner

Julia Vlassov Julia Vlassov (born August 29, 1990) is an American retired pair skater. She and partner Drew Meekins are the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, 2006 World Junior Champions. Personal life Vlassov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the ...

, he is the 2006 World Junior Champion. Meekins attended the 2018 Olympic Games with Mirai Nagasu.

Skating career

Meekins and Vlassov won the 2006 World Junior Championships. In their first season of senior international competition, they won the silver at the

Nebelhorn Trophy The Nebelhorn Trophy is an international senior-level figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and held annually in Oberstdorf, Germany. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season. The competitio ...

, placed sixth at the

2006 Cup of China The 2006 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2006–07 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Nanjing on November 9� ...

, and placed 5th at the

2006 NHK Trophy The 2006 NHK Trophy was the final event of six in the 2006–07 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Big Hat in Nagano on November 30 – December 3. Medals were awarded ...

. Vlassov and Meekins finished in 7th place in their senior debut at the 2007 U.S. Championships. They were fifth in the free program. Vlassov and Meekins were assigned to two Grand Prix events for the 2007–2008 season; however, they were forced to withdraw from the

2007 Skate Canada International The 2007 Skate Canada International was the second event of six in the 2007–08 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City, Quebec on November ...

before the event began due to an injury to Meekins's shoulder which occurred during an attempted lift in practice. Vlassov and Meekins announced the end of their partnership on November 8, 2007.

U.S. Figure Skating U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act an ...

announced on July 14, 2008, that Meekins had teamed up with

Jessica Rose Paetsch Jessica Rose Paetsch (born January 31, 1993 in Denver, Colorado) is an American pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform thei ...

. Paetsch and Meekins placed 10th at the 2009 U.S. Championships. After qualifying for the 2010 U.S. Championships, Paetsch & Meekins announced the end of their partnership in December 2009. Meekins is now a figure skating coach at the Broadmoor skating club in Colorado Springs, CO. He has worked with many skaters, including coaching and choreographing

Vincent Zhou Vincent Zhou (born October 25, 2000) is an American figure skater. He is a 2022 Olympic Games team event silver medalist, a two-time World bronze medalist (2019, 2022), the 2019 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy champ ...

when he won the title of 2017 Junior world Champion and

Mirai Nagasu is an American figure skater. She is a 2018 Olympic Games team event bronze medalist, three-time Four Continents medalist (silver in 2016, bronze in 2011 and 2017), the 2007 JGP Final champion, a two-time World Junior medalist (silver in 2007 ...

when she won bronze at the 2018

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Meekins now coaches a wide range of skaters and offers virtual lessons and other resources on his website.

Early life and family

Andrew Meekins, known as "Drew", was born in

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

on April 10, 1985. He is one of five children (four sons and one daughter) born to Edward Russell "Russ" Meekins, Jr. (1949-2020) and his wife Nancy Harvey. All four of his grandparents moved to

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

from the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

during the tail end of World War II and were active in business and civic affairs in Anchorage throughout the middle and late 20th century. His father, his aunt

Susan Sullivan Susan Michaela Sullivan (born November 18, 1944) is an American actress. Sullivan is best known for her roles as Lenore Curtin Delaney on the NBC daytime soap opera '' Another World'' (1971–76), as Lois Adams on the ABC sitcom ''It's a Living' ...

, and his grandfather Russ Meekins Sr. all served in the

Alaska State Legislature The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There are 40 Hou ...

as Democrats representing Anchorage. His father, the only one of the three to serve more than one term, was the House's majority leader in his last term (1981–1983). In that term, he played a key role in two events which rank amongst the most significant in the history of the

Alaska Legislature The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There are 40 Hou ...

: the mid-session overthrow of the Democratic House leadership and its replacement with a multi-party coalition, and the bribery conviction and subsequent expulsion of a member of the

Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gub ...

. As a result of the fallout from these events, he soon found himself on the outs with Alaska's political establishment. The family left Alaska ca. 1990 and moved to Massachusetts, the home state of Nancy Harvey's parents, settling on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. One of his brothers, Cam Meekins, is a rapper.

Programs

(with Vlassov)

Competitive highlights

With Paetsch

With Vlassov

References

* * * *

External links

Vlassov & Meekins official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meekins, Drew American male pair skaters 1985 births Living people People from Juneau, Alaska Sportspeople from Alaska World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists 21st-century American people