Danielle O'Brien
| Danielle O'Brien | |
|---|---|
O'Brien/Merriman in 2011.
|
|
| Personal information | |
| Country represented | Australia |
| Born |
7 February 1990 Sydney |
| Height | 150 cm (4 ft 11 in) |
| Partner | Gregory Merriman |
| Former coach | Monica MacDonald, Pasquale Camerlengo, Anjelika Krylova, Elizabeth Swallow, Natalia Deller, Andrei Filippov, Maria Filippov, Victor Kraatz, Maikki Kraatz |
| Former choreographer | Monica McDonald, Pasquale Camerlengo, Anjelika Krylova |
| Skating club | Sydney FSC |
| Began skating | 1997 |
| Retired | April 2014 |
| ISU personal best scores | |
| Combined total | 128.53 2014 Winter Olympics |
| Short dance | 52.68 2014 Winter Olympics |
| Free dance | 77.28 2014 Four Continents |
Danielle O'Brien (born 7 February 1990) is an Australian ice dancer. With partner Gregory Merriman, she is a six-time Australian senior national champion and three-time junior national champion. They have competed at the World Championships and Four Continents Championships since 2008, and have competed at three World Junior Championships. They became the first Australian ice dancers to reach the free dance at a World Championships.
Danielle O'Brien teamed up with Gregory Merriman, who also skated at the Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, in April 1998. They were coached by Australian ice dancing champion Monica MacDonald in Sydney, Australia. In the 2009–10 season, they trained with former World champion Victor Kraatz and Maikki Kraatz. O'Brien/Merriman withdrew from the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, the final qualifying opportunity for the 2010 Winter Olympics, due to Merriman's diagnosis of pericarditis, a viral infection in the sac surrounding the heart.
In the 2010–11 season, O'Brien/Merriman began training part-time in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan under coaches Anjelika Krylova, two-time World champion, and Pasquale Camerlengo. They relocated to Detroit to train there full-time in late 2011. Although Merriman's heel of his boot separated during the preliminary round at the 2012 World Championships, they placed eighth out of 23 couples and qualified for the short dance, where they placed 20th and qualified for the free. O'Brien/Merriman became the first Australian team to qualify for the free dance at a World Championships. They finished 20th overall.
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