Laney Diggs

Laney Diggs

Personal information
Full name	Melanie Paige Diggs
Alternative names	Laney Diggs
Country represented	United States
Born	October 9, 1992 (1992-10-09) (age 19) San Jose, California
Home town	Rolling Hills Estates
Height	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Coach	Frank Carroll Christa Fassi Galina Barinova
Former coach	Tiffany Chin
Choreographer	Alex Chang Philipp Mills
Skating club	All Year FSC
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	97.79 2009 JGP Belarus
Short program	41.09 2009 JGP Belarus
Free skate	56.70 2009 JGP Belarus

Melanie Paige "Laney" Diggs (born October 9, 1992) is an American figure skater. She has competed twice at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and represented the United States internationally.

Personal life

Melanie Diggs, nicknamed Laney, was born in San Jose, California. She is of Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, and British descent. She attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, but is currently attending the University of California, Berkeley as a media studies major.

Career

Diggs began skating after watching Michelle Kwan compete at the Olympics. In the 2004-2005 season, competing on the novice level, she placed 8th at her regional championship and did not qualify for the 2005 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

In the 2005-2006 season, Diggs won the pewter medals at her regional and sectional championships, qualifying her for the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships on the novice level, where she placed ninth.

In the 2006-2007 season, Diggs moved up to the Junior level, but placed 5th at her sectional championship and did not advance to the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Diggs moved up to the senior level in the 2007-2008 season. She won her regional championship and won the silver medal at her sectional championship. She qualified for the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placed 20th.

In the 2008-2009 season, Diggs won the silver medals at her regional and sectional championships and placed 10th at the 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She was assigned to the 2009 International Challenge Cup and placed 6th in her first international competition.

Coaching changes

Early in her career, Diggs was coached by Tiffany Chin in Simi Valley, California, with her programs choreographed by Alex Chang. She changed coaches to Frank Carroll, Christa Fassi and Galina Barinova in El Segundo, California. Chang remains her choreographer. She recently switched coaches yet again to Angela Nikodinov and Ivan Dinev in Torrance, California

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating
2009-10	Pas de Trois performed by the London Symphony Orchestra	Un Sospiro performed by the Gamley Orchestra Spellbound Concerto performed by the London Promenade Orchestra
2008-09	Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor by E. von Sauer	Selections from the Les Misérables soundtrack performed by Tony Britten and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
2007-08	Flamingo Loco	Symphony in White
2006-07
2005-06	Waka Ala Balh by Amir Diab	Mishima by Philip Glass Bamboo Oralion by Violaine Corradi

Competitive highlights

Event	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
U.S. Championships		9th N.		20th	10th	15th
Junior Grand Prix, Belarus						13th
International Challenge Cup					6th
Pacific Coast Sectional Championships		4th N.	5th J.	2nd	2nd	3rd
Southwest Pacific Regional Championships	8th N.	4th N.	2nd J.	1st	2nd

• N = Novice level; J = Junior level

References

• Laney Diggs at the International Skating Union
• Laney Diggs at the United States Figure Skating Association
• Belmond, Sylvie. "Practice makes perfect for local figure skater". Simi Valley Acorn. https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2006-06-02/Sports/021.html. Retrieved 25 August 2009. 
• 2006 U.S. Championships biographyPDF
• 2008 U.S. Championships biographyPDF

Persondata
Name	Diggs, Laney
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1992-10-09
Place of birth	San Jose, California
Date of death
Place of death