Rippon started to skate at age 10 because his mother skated and brought him along to the rink. He did not like it at first, but eventually started to love skating. Rippon is the oldest of six children in his family. Skaters he looks up to are Daisuke Takahashi, Alexei Yagudin, Shizuka Arakawa, Miki Ando and Michelle Kwan. He switched coaches in September 2012. Rippon also lists Denis Petrov as his coach. Rippon broke his left foot in January 2017 and missed the second half of the season.