Mining For Gold

Vermont's Ross Miner is in the hunt for gold - medals that is. The talented 18-year-old won the gold medal in the men's junior division at the 2009 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships on his first try. He previously won the gold in the intermediate division in 2006 and the silver in novice in 2008.

However, Miner missed qualifying for nationals in 2007 (by .29 points). He placed first in the short at Eastern sectionals, but blew the long and placed fifth overall. "It made me a better skater," he said. "I learned to work harder and skate every day."

Miner finished tenth at the 2009 World Junior Figure Skating Championships - his first ISU championship event. His only previous international experience was a silver medal at the Gardena Spring Trophy in 2008.

"This season, I plan to move up to seniors in the U.S.," he said, "but I want to do the Junior Grand Prixs internationally. My long term goal is just to get as good as I can at skating and learn something from it. I'll continue as long as it makes me happy."

He began the 2009-10 season with a second place finish (in both the short and long programs) at the Liberty Open in July, losing to Olympic contender Patrick Chan by just six points in the free and scoring the highest technical score in the event.

Miner, who was born in Burlington, Vermont, first started skating when he was three years old. "I just wanted to learn how to skate," he said. "Then I started playing hockey and kept playing until I was twelve. I played left wing and center in recreational leagues and a county travel team. I also took figure skating lessons at the same time."

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