Keegan Messing
Keegan Messing is a Canadian-American figure skater. Representing Canada, he competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and has appeared at the World Championships. He is also the 2018 Nebelhorn Trophy champion, and won a silver medal in the Grand Prix of Figure Skating at the 2018 Skate Canada International. At the domestic level, he is a two-time Canadian national medallist.
Previously, representing the United States, he was the two-time International Cup of Nice champion and the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medallist. He placed fourth at the 2010 World Junior Championships.
Personal life
Keegan Messing was born on January 23, 1992, in Girdwood, Anchorage, Alaska, USA. He has two brothers, Paxon and Tanner; Paxon was killed in a motorcycle accident at age 26, in 2019. He holds dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship. His mother was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and he is a great-great-grandson of Manzo Nagano. His father is a firefighter.In October of 2018, he became engaged to his girlfriend Lane Hodson. Messing and Hodson married in the summer of 2019.
Career
American years (1995-2014)
Messing started skating at age 3 after watching the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Naming Elvis Stojko as his biggest influence, Messing said: "Watching him skate made me want to skate". In addition to singles, Messing formerly competed in pair skating with Ellie Gottstein.Anne Durham coached Messing from 1995 to 1999. He is now coached by Ralph Burghardt in Anchorage, Alaska.
Messing won the junior silver medal at the 2009 U.S. Championships. The following season, he made his senior national debut, finishing ninth. He finished eighth at the 2011 U.S. Nationals.
Messing won the 2011 Coupe de Nice after placing first in the short program and fourth in the free. He then placed seventh at the 2012 U.S. Nationals, which would be his highest placement as an American senior. He won the bronze medal at the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy, and repeated as the victor at the 2012 Coupe de Nice.
At the 2013 U.S. Nationals, Messing placed sixteenth, followed by a twelfth-place finish the following year.
Early Canadian seasons (2014-2017)
In July 2014, Messing said that he would begin competing for Canada. In the 2014–15 season, he won bronze at the Skate Canada Challenge and qualified for the 2015 Canadian Championships. He placed fifth at Nationals, representing a club in Sherwood Park, Alberta.In the 2015–16 season, Messing placed fifth at the 2015 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy and eleventh at the 2015 Skate Canada International, his senior Grand Prix debut. He went on to place sixth at the 2016 Canadian Championships.
The 2016–17 season saw Messing compete at two Challenger events, placing fourth at the 2016 CS Autumn Classic International and winning a bronze medal at the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb. At the 2017 Canadian Championships, he again placed fifth.
2017–2018 season: Olympic and Worlds debut
Messing began the Olympic season at the 2017 CS Autumn Classic International, where he won the bronze medal behind Javier Fernandez and Yuzuru Hanyu. Competing on the Grand Prix circuit, he placed eighth at the 2017 Skate Canada International and fifth at the 2017 NHK Trophy.Competing at the 2018 Canadian Championships that would decide the nation's delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics, Messing placed third in both the short program and free skate, winning the silver medal behind Patrick Chan. Messing was named along with Chan to the Olympic team, as well as to the 2018 World Championships team alongside national bronze medallist Nam Nguyen.
Competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Messing finished twelfth overall. At his World Championships debut, Messing placed sixth in the short program with a new personal best score, qualifying for the final flight of the free skate. Messing placed eleventh in the free skate following errors, for an eighth-place finish overall.
2018–2019 season
Beginning the season at the 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Messing placed first in both segments to win the gold medal, his first international win while representing Canada.Competing on the Grand Prix, Messing placed first in the short program at the 2018 Skate Canada International, following mistakes by presumed frontrunner Shoma Uno. He then placed second in the free skate, behind Uno, to win the silver medal overall, his first Grand Prix medal. At the 2018 Rostelecom Cup, he placed fifth, having placed seventh in the short program and sixth in the free program. He was initially named as the first alternate to the Grand Prix Final, and was subsequently called up following the withdrawal of Yuzuru Hanyu due to injury.
At the Final, Messing underrotated two jumps in the short program, placing sixth. He moved up to fifth place in the free skate, despite falling on a triple Axel and doubling a planned quadruple toeloop. Messing landed the quad Lutz in competition for the first time, the second Canadian skater to do so after Stephen Gogolev.
At the 2019 Canadian Championships, Messing was considered a favourite going in, but struggled in both programs. In the short program, he placed second behind Gogolev, despite falling on his opening quad attempt. The free skate was also a challenge, and he dropped to third place, winning the bronze medal behind Nguyen and Gogolev. He was named to the Canadian teams for the Four Continents and World Championships.
At the 2019 Four Continents Championships, Messing placed fifth in the short program after rough landings on both his triple Axel and triple Lutz jumps. He then placed third in the free program with a personal best score, winning a small bronze medal, and placing fourth overall. At the 2019 World Championships, Messing placed fifteenth after two error-riddled programs. The placements of Messing and Nguyen meant that Canada would have only one men's berth at the 2020 World Championships. Messing concluded the season at the 2019 World Team Trophy, where he placed sixth overall among the twelve men, including a fourth-place free skate that featured only one error.
2019–2020 season
Messing selected "Perfect" as his short program music for the season in commemoration of his marriage, the song having been the first dance at his wedding. His first competition of the season was the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International, where he won the bronze medal with third place finishes in both segments. Messing held the Japanese flag in aid of the event's winner, Yuzuru Hanyu, during the medal ceremony, and was praised in the media for an example of good sportsmanship.Messing's younger brother Paxon was killed in a road accident days after the Autumn Classic. Messing opted to compete on the Grand Prix a few weeks later. Messing placed third in the short program at 2019 Skate America, fractions of a point behind Dmitri Aliev, and set a new personal best. He struggled in the free skate, placing eighth and dropping to fourth place overall. Messing performed a tribute to Paxon at the Skate America gala, saying it felt like "a last goodbye." At his second Grand Prix, the 2019 Cup of China, he was fifth in the short program after fall on his quad toe loop and performing only a double Axel instead of a triple. He was third in the free skate, and finished fourth overall.
Making only an error on his final triple Lutz, Messing placed first in the short program at the 2020 Canadian Championships. He struggled in the free skate, falling on both his attempted quad jumps and making a number of other errors, and dropped to third place overall behind Roman Sadovsky and Nguyen. Skate Canada assigned all three podium finishers to compete at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, declining for the time being to fill Canada's one berth at the 2020 World Championships.
At Four Continents, Messing placed fourth in the short program with a clean program, which he cited as especially meaningful given his six-month wedding anniversary. He struggled in the free skate, making several jump errors that dropped him to eighth place overall, with Nguyen the highest-finishing Canadian skater at sixth.