Adam Rippon

Early life Adam Rippon was born on November 11, 1989, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the first child in his family of six children.

On June 16, 2011, Rippon announced he was leaving Canada and returning to train in the US at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, home of his DSC-based choreographer Pasquale Camerlengo and began training under the charge of Jason Dungjen.

2012–13 season In September 2012, Rippon announced a coaching change, moving to train with Rafael Arutyunyan in Lake Arrowhead, California.

2014–15 season In October 2014, Rippon competed at the 2014 CS Finlandia Trophy finishing first in the free program and second overall. At the end of October he finished 7th in the free skate and 10th overall at the 2014 Skate Canada International. In November he finished 5th at the 2014 Trophee Eric Bompard after placing third in the free skate. Rippon adjusted his blade brand and mount, took on a new trainer to work with his team and met with renewed consistency at U.S. Championships, landing effortless triple Axels and once again including a quadruple Lutz in his short and long programs. He went on to win the free skate portion of the competition and finished second overall with the silver medal. He was assigned to both the Four Continents team and the Worlds team. Rippon recounted that he initially finished in third overall behind Javier Fernandez and Adian Pitkeev, but shortly before the medal ceremony it was discovered that a spin of teammate Ross Miner had been mis-leveled, and it was Miner who narrowly beat Rippon for the bronze medal. At age 26, Rippon won gold at the 2016 U.S. Championships. He placed sixth at the 2016 World Championships in Boston with a fantastic fourth place free program to a medley of Beatles tunes. As a result, he qualified for the first time to the Grand Prix Final. He would finish 6th at the event in Marseille, France.

During an off-ice warmup on January 6, 2017, Rippon sprained his left ankle and fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot, resulting in his withdrawal from the 2017 U.S. Championships. In the individual men's event, he placed 7th in the short program and 10th in the free skate to finish 10th overall.

On November 19, 2018, Rippon announced his retirement from competitive figure skating.

Post-competitive career Rippon interviewing Isabeau Levito at the 2026 U.S. Championships Following his retirement from competitive figure skating, Rippon began working as a coach and choreographer.

In 2023, he began a figure skating podcast, titled "The Runthrough," which he hosts alongside Ashley Wagner and their friend Sarah Hughes (not to be confused with 2002 Olympic Champion Sarah Hughes). In addition, he has also done figure skating commentary.

Dancing with the Stars On April 13, 2018, Rippon was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 26 of Dancing with the Stars. His professional partner was Jenna Johnson. They won the competition.

+Adam Rippon - Dancing with the Stars (season 26) Week Dance Music Judges' scores Total score Result 1 Cha-cha-cha "Sissy That Walk" — RuPaul 8 8 8 24 Safe 2 Quickstep "Make Way" — Aloe Blacc 9 9 10 37 Safe Freestyle(Team 1970s Football) "Instant Replay" — Dan Hartman 9 9 9 37 3 Contemporary "O" — Coldplay 10 9 10 39 Safe Jive(Dance-off) "Johnny B. Goode" — Chuck Berry Winner 2 4 Jazz "Anything You Can Do" — Bernadette Peters & Tom Wopat 10 10 10 30 Winner Freestyle "Scooby Doo Pa Pa" — DJ Kass 9 9 10 28

Signature moves

Rippon's signature move is a triple Lutz that he executes with both arms above his head, colloquially dubbed the "Rippon Lutz".

Personal life On October 2, 2015, Rippon publicly came out as gay. In his memoir Beautiful on the Outside, Rippon revealed that, before coming out as gay, he briefly dated South Korean Olympic champion Yuna Kim while both were training in Toronto. Rippon and his husband, Jussi-Pekka Kajaala, were married on December 31, 2021. The two met on Tinder in 2018. He reminded people that success is not overnight: It requires dedication and the support of others. In addition to his mother, Kelly, he has a close relationship with his siblings.

In 2019, Rippon guest-hosted RuPaul's Drag Race season 11 "Ruveal" livestreams with reigning queen from season 10, Aquaria. Also in 2019, Rippon appeared in Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" music video, which won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. He also appeared in Superfruit's "The Promise" music video.

Politics In February 2018, Rippon raised concerns about then-Vice President Mike Pence being chosen to lead the US delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony because of Pence's support of legislation and policies deemed hostile to gay people.

Rippon endorsed and campaigned for Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

In 2020, Rippon made a donation to The Okra Project, a charity aimed at helping underprivileged black transgender people. Russian skater Alexei Yagudin reacted to the donation with an Instagram post calling Rippon and people like him "mistakes of nature" and wishing them to die. Yagudin later deleted the post. Rippon criticized Yagudin for the comments and made another $1,000 donation, this time in Yagudin's name, to the same organization.

In 2022, Rippon criticized the International Olympic Committee for selecting Beijing as the host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The athlete said that the IOC was rewarding China's human rights abuses instead of choosing hosting countries that are safe for all athletes to compete.

Programs

Wonderland Whisper from the Mirror Dancing with the Stars: The Next ProGuest ContestantSeason 1 finale, paired with Selena Hamilton