How will you – or did you – celebrate hitting 30 years of age? Olympic medal-winning figure skater Adam Rippon hit that milestone yesterday. He decided to commemorate by shooting a video of him dancing a “birthday joy skate.”
He performs an awe-inspiring routine to Ben Platt’s cover of the Joni Mitchell song, “River”.
Explaining why he wanted to mark his birthday in this way, Rippon explained on Instagram.
“A birthday joy skate 🙆🏼♂️ River by @bensplatt
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“Today is my 30th birthday. I couldn’t be more grateful for everything and everyone in my life. Thank you for always sending love and positive energy my way. I hope I’m always able to do the same for you.
“I wanted to do something fun for myself so I asked one of my old skating choreographers, Cindy Stuart, to put this together with me. She is amazing. And Ben Platt is also amazing (duh) and when I heard him do a cover of this song I knew I had to skate to it. Huge thank you to @oniceperspectives who put this all together too ❤️
HBD 2 ME. I LOVE YOU.”
Related: Adam Rippon announces retirement from skating in powerful letter
Rippon, who came out as gay in 2015, represented the US at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, where he won a Bronze Medal. His talent, engaging personality and all-round social media sassiness won him legions of fans.
After the Olympics, he went on to win season 26 of Dancing With The Stars with dance partner Jenna Johnson. He announced his retirement from competitive skating in November last year.
He recently saw his memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, published and is on a book tour across the US. He’s also co-hosting the Facebook Watch show Relationship Rehab with comedian Michelle Collins.
Happy birthday, Adam!
chupacabra
I am envious of his talent
Smith David
Ben Platt’s talent right? I second that:)
chupacabra
nope. david hudson