DREW MEEKINS, born on this date, is an American retired pairs skater, coach, and choreographer. With former partner Julia Vlassov, he is the 2006 World Junior Champion.

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, placed sixth at the 2006 Cup of China, and placed fifth at the 2006 NHK Trophy. Vlassov and Meekins finished in seventh place in their senior debut at the 2007 U.S. Championships. They were fifth in the free program.

They were assigned to two Grand Prix events for the 2007–2008 season; however, they were forced to withdraw from the 2007 Skate Canada International 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 in November 2007.

U.S. Figure Skating announced in July 2008, that Meekins had teamed up with Jessica Rose Paetsch. Paetsch and Meekins placed tenth 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. Moving to the senior circuit, he and new partner Jessica Rose Paetsch finished 10th at the U.S. Championships in 2009. He got shoulder surgery in 2011, but he knew his time competing on the ice at the national and international level was coming to an end.

So Meekins turned to coaching, where his shoulder wasn’t an issue. Over the last decade he’s worked as a coach or choreographer with many young figure skaters, including Olympic gold medalist Vincent Zhou and various other medalists at the World Junior Championships.

Meekins has now been out as a gay man in figure skating for many years.

“Growing up as a figure skater, I was lucky that there were examples of gay men around me,” he said. “Looking back I realize I was so lucky to have that representation in my daily life. I saw gay men and couples who were loved and who were praised. I knew them personally.”

Now that he’s not competing as an athlete himself, Meekins is a leader in the figure skating community in the United States. That makes it that much more important to him to be publicly out as a gay man in sports.

Meekins will fulfill his Olympic dream in Milan this year with Team USA, coaching skating pair Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam.