Davis, Meryl

Meryl Davis was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, the daughter of Cheryl and Paul Davis. She has a younger brother, whose name is Clayton ^[4] . She is of English, Irish, Scottish and German descent ^[5] . Davis was diagnosed with dyslexia in the third grade, and she struggled with reading until 11th grade ^[6] . In June 2005, Davis graduated from Wiley E. Groves High School ^[7] . She was a member of the National Honor Society. Davis lives in Birmingham, Michigan. She attends the University of Michigan. ^[7] In addition, Davis joined UNICEF Kid Power as brand ambassador in March 2016 ^[8] .

On July 13, 2017, Davis became engaged to former skater Fedor Andreev , whom she had been dating for more than six years ^[9] . On June 22, 2019, they got married ^[10] .

Early years

Meryl started skating at the age of five, as there was a lake near her house, on which there was a skating rink in winter ^[11] . She started as a loner, but by the age of eight she concentrated on dancing on ice ^[11] . In 1997, she paired up with Charlie White ^[12] . In 2009, Davis said: “Our parents are best friends. We grew up together and know each other so well ” ^[13] .

In the 2000–01 season, they qualified for the 2001 US Championship, ranking sixth in the novice category. In 2001-02, they won a silver medal in the same category, and then moved to the junior level.

Junior career

In the 2002–2003 season, they did not win medals in either of their two Grand Prix stages and took seventh place in the 2003 US Championship. The following year, they became second in the national championship and get to the world junior championship , where they occupy only 13th place.

The season 2004-2005, the duo began very well having won bronze in two stages of the Junior Grand Prix series, but because of Charlie's ankle injury they had to miss the rest of the season.

The following year they returned with renewed vigor: they won one stage of the Junior Grand Prix, became the second in the final of the Junior Grand Prix, won the US Championship among juniors and became third at the World Championship among juniors . After this season, due to Meryl's age, the couple could no longer perform in juniors. They lost some training time after White broke his ankle in a hockey tournament in 2006. ^[12]

Transition to an adult level

2006/2007

The 2006-2007 season was their first season at the adult level. They became fourth in both stages of the Grand Prix . At the NHK Trophy , they became the first dance couple to receive fourth levels in all of their elements in free dance ^[14] . They were third in the U.S. Championship, fourth in the Four Continents Championship and seventh in the World Championships .

2007/2008

Davis / White took fourth place at Skate America 2007 , and then at Trophée Eric Bompard 2007 they won their first medal in the adult stages of the Grand Prix, winning the bronze.

They completely updated their free dance Eleanor Rigby before the start of the U.S. Championship due to its poor reception. They won the silver medal in the competition, rising one place higher than in the previous season. Then they became the second in the championship of four continents , for them it was the first medal at that level. At the World Cup, the couple took sixth place.

2008/2009

In the 2008-2009 season, having won the Skate Canada Grand Prix stage and becoming the third in the Cup of Russia , the couple, for the first time in their career, selected to participate in the Grand Prix finals , where they won bronze for the first time in their careers. At the 2009 US Championship , they, in the absence of the national team leaders Tanit Belbin and Benjamin Agosto , became the winners of the tournament. The closest pursuers Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates they beat 20 points. After the obligatory and original dance, the couple was in second place in the championship of the four continents in 2009 , but due to the victory in the free dance, Meryl and Charlie became champions, having managed to beat their principal rivals and training comrades (both duets work for Zueva and Shpilband ) Canadians Tessa Vertia and Scott Moira . At the home world championships held in Los Angeles , Davis and White took an offensive fourth place, losing 0.04 points to their classmates.

2009/2010: Olympic season

Davis / White began their season at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy , taking first place in all segments of the competition. They beat their closest pursuers by 30.87 points. Then Meryl and Charlie won two Grand Prix stages: Rostelecom Cup 2009 and NHK Trophy 2009 , which allowed them to qualify for the 2009–2010 Grand Prix finals . In the Grand Prix finals, they won the original dance and took second place in the free dance, which allowed them to win this tournament, becoming the first American ice dancers to do so. At the 2010 national championship, Davis and White won their second national title.

From February 19 to February 22, ice dancing competitions were held at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver . Meryl and Charlie in the compulsory dance scored 41.47 points, which allowed them to go in third place. In the original dance, the duo from the USA scored 67.08, which allowed them to take second place, ahead of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin . In free dance, Davis and White scored 107.19 points, which was their new best result. The couple also received a personal best result and in the total amount of points - 215.74. These results helped them become the silver medalists of the Olympic Games. The guys lost only to Tessa Werth and Scott Moir ^[15] .

At the World Championships, Davis and White won silver, again losing to classmates from Canada .

2010/2011: Winning Season

In the first season of the new cycle, the couple was supposed to take part in the home and Japanese stages of the Grand Prix. At the Grand Prix stage in Japan , Meryl and Charlie scored 66.97 points and 98.24 points in the free dance in a short dance, a total of 165.21 points, which allowed them to take a confident first place. After the Japanese stage, they decided to make some adjustments to their free dance ^[16] . At Skate America 2010 for a short dance, they received 63.62 points and 93.06 points in a free dance after both fell. They earned a total of 156.68 points and won a gold medal. These results allowed them to take part in the Grand Prix finals of 2010-2011 . In the final, they had to defend their title, which they earned a year ago. In the short dance they scored 68.64 points, in the free dance 102.94 points, the total amount is 171.58 points. These points allowed them to become two-time winners of the Grand Prix final in figure skating, ahead of Natalie Peshal and Fabian Burza by 9 points ( Tessa Vertyu and Scott Moir were absent due to injury to their partner). In January 2011, Davis and White became three-time US champions. They earned 76.04 points for their short dance and 109.44 points for free dance, gaining a total of 185.48 points.

In the Four Continents Championship 2011, Americans took second place after Tessa Vertyu and Scott Moir in a short dance. Canadians later withdrew from free dance ^[17] . Davis and White won a free dance and became two-time champions of four continents. At the 2011 World Cup, they took second place in the short dance, losing 0.53 points to their teammates, gaining 73.76 points. In free dance, they took first place, receiving 111.51 points, which was the highest result of the season. As a result, gaining 185.27 points, Meryl and Charlie for the first time became world champions, ahead of current Olympic and world champions Vertyu and Moira by 3.48 points. This was the first victory of American dancers at the world championships.

2011/2012

In the new season, Davis / White were announced at Skate America 2011 and Rostelecom Cup 2011. They announced their choice of music in August, including the fact that they chose La Strada as the musical accompaniment in free dance ^[18] , but in October announced the transition to the operetta of the Austrian composer Johann Strauss the Bat ^[19] . Davis and White won gold at Skate America 2011 , gaining 70.33 points in a short dance and 107.74 points in a free dance. They were 21.78 points ahead of Natalie Peshal / Fabian Burza , who became second. At the Rostelecom Cup 2011, she scored 179.06 points, which was more than at the home stage, despite the fact that Charlie stumbled in a short dance. They were 17.88 points ahead of Caitlin Weaver / Andrew Poget . In December, they took part in the 2011–2012 Grand Prix finals , where once again (the third in a row) they won a gold medal in competitions. In January, another U.S. Championship gold was won. They later became silver medalists in the Four Continents Championship and the 2012 World Cup , losing to Tessa Werth and Scott Moir . However, in 2012 at the team world championships they overtook Canadians by 5.6 points, and the US team won a silver medal, losing only to the skaters from Japan. After Igor Shpilband’s dismissal from the Arctic Edge arena in June 2012, Davis / White decided to stay on the rink with Marina Zueva and stopped working with Shpilband ^[20] .

2012/2013

In the summer it became known that American dancers will take part in the American and Japanese Grand Prix stages. Unconditional victories were won both in the USA and in Japan ^{[21] [22]} . In December, Meryl and Charlie won the Grand Prix finals for the fourth time ^[23] . In January 2013, they won their fifth consecutive national title . They continued their winning season by winning a gold medal in the championship on four continents in 2013 , despite the fact that after a short dance the Americans took second place ^[24] . Then, at the World Championships in March in Canadian London , they again defeated Verti and Moira , thereby becoming two-time world champions, breaking their previous world records both in short dance and overall standings ^[25] .

2013/2014: victory at the Sochi Olympics

In the offseason, the couple worked on programs with Derek Hough and Alex Wong ^{[26] [27]} . Musical accompaniment of a short dance Meryl and Charlie musical fragments of "I Could Have Danced All Night" , "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me of the Church on Time" from the movie "My Fair Lady" . Free dance was put on the suite "Scheherazade" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov ^[28] .

For the first time, the pair took to the ice at the US International Figure Skating Classic tournament , where they took a confident first place ^[29] . Meryl and Charlie were announced at the two stages of the Grand Prix: Skate America 2013 and NHK Trophy 2013 . On both stages convincing victories were won ^{[30] [31]} . In the Grand Prix finals , a serious struggle for victory unfolded between Davis / White and Verti / Moir . In a short dance, the American duo scored 77.66 points, ahead of Canadians by 0.07 points ^[32] . In free dance, Davis and White squeezed their opponents and became five-time winners of the Grand Prix finals, while they set two world records at once - in free dance (113.69) and the total points (191.35) ^[33] . Before the national championship, Davis and White slightly changed their free dance ^[34] .

Meryl and Charlie won the national championship for the sixth time at the U.S. Championship, previously no one has obeyed this achievement. Davis and White also won a ticket to the Olympic Games , which will be held in Sochi in February ^[35] .

In Sochi, Meryl and Charlie took part in both the individual and team championships. For the couple, the Olympics began on February 8th, the day they had a short dance in the team tournament. Meryl and Charlie scored 75.98 points, thus they took first place and brought their team 10 points ^[36] . It is worth noting that after two types the US team took seventh place, because Jeremy Abbott and sports pair Marissa Castelli / Simon Schnapier did not perform well. After the performance of Davis / White, the Americans climbed to third place. On February 9, Meryl and Charlie won the free dance of the team tournament, bringing their country 20 points out of 20 possible ^[37] . Thanks to the performance of the guys, the US team became the bronze medalist in the team tournament, and Meryl and Charlie added a second Olympic medal to their collection. A week later, competitions in ice dancing began, where their main competitors were traditionally Canadians Tessa Vertyu and Scott Moir , who 4 years ago became Olympic champions. On February 16th, a short dance competition was held, where Meryl and Charlie set a new world record with 78.89 points. They broke away from their main competitors by 2.56 points ^[38] . The fate of Olympic gold was in the hands of the guys themselves. The next day, the dancers demonstrated their free dance. Meryl and Charlie closed the competition and did it brilliantly: having received 116.63 points for an arbitrary dance, they became Olympic Champions for the first time in the history of American ice dancing ^[39] . Thus, they collected medals of the Olympic Games of every value: “gold” and “silver” in personal tournaments (2014 and 2010, respectively) and “bronze” in the team tournament (2014).

Meryl Davis and Charlie White continue to perform together in ice shows. In 2014, she took part in the American television show "Dancing With The Stars" ("Dancing with the Stars"). Together with partner Maxim Chmerkovsky they won ^[40] . In February 2017, they confirmed that they would not resume their careers ^[41] .

after 2007

k - team competition

until 2007

• N = children's level;
• J = junior level

Small medals for short and free programs are awarded only at championships under the auspices of the ISU .

SD = short dance; CD = compulsory dance; OD = original dance; FD = free dance.

• M. Davis & C. White on the official website of the International Skating Union .
• Official website