Arcadia Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu earned herself a bronze medal at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston Saturday night (Jan. 11, 2014). Unfortunately that was not enough to get her back to the Olympics next month.
Arcadia’s Mirai Nagasu poses with U.S. Figure Skating Championship Bronze Medal Jan. 11, 2014
Nagasu earned her medal literally on her own, having parted ways a couple months ago with her coach and opting to take the highly unusual step of competing without one. She was also the only one of the top competitors to skate a clean final Free Skate program without any major errors or falls, earning third-place scores again after doing the same in the Short Program two days earlier.
Nagasu, whose parents own and operate the Kiyosuzu sushi restaurant on Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia, had also only competed in a couple of events this season, but delivered strong performances when she did. The 20 year-old is the only one of the ladies figure skaters with Olympic experience, having barely missed a bronze medal at the Games in Vancouver in 2010. While living in Arcadia and attending Foothills Middle School and Arcadia High School, Nagasu won the Junior skating crown and became the only skater to win the senior women’s crown in her first year of competition at that level at age 14 in 2008.
Talk about a medal with your name on it; 18-year-old Gracie Gold won the gold medal despite touching, ensuring one of the three open slots to represent the U.S. at next month’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The other two were up for grabs but the U.S. Figure Skating selection committee announced this morning (Sunday, Jan. 12), their other two choices of 22 year-old Ashley Wagner and 15 year-old reigning U.S. Junior champion Polina Edmunds.
Wagner had back-to-back mistake-filled performances and falls at the Championships this week that resulted in a fourth-place finish in the short program and fifth-place in the Free Skate last night. She had been the hands-down favorite to win her third National Championship on the strength of her many strong international competitions this season. She had a similar setback in 2010 when she choked at Nationals and there were only two spots available for the Olympics that year. Wagner’s fifth place finish at the 2013 Worlds competition opened up a third slot for the U.S. team, which may have been the one she filled.
The peppy Edmunds is a relatively unknown teen who fell in her first Free Skate on the Seniors level last night but still finished 1.5 points ahead of Nagasu and nearly three points better overall. That was enough for the selection committe to name her to the Olympic team. Tara Lapinski was 15 when she won the Olympic Gold for the United States in 1998.
Nagasu can be proud of her comeback from several turbulent years of competition and revolving door of coaches during her teen years — she finished seventh at Nationals the last two years.
– By Scott Hettrick