Well, I agree I was awed by the freedom Mirai had in both of her performances. She didn't hold back at all and yet she still managed to be so crisp and on as you say. Comparing Mirai and Sasha, overall I still think that overall Sasha's SP at the 2006 Olympics and SP at 2004 Worlds are better. I find those programs absolutely stunning, especially the one in 2004. But hopefully I will soon say I like one of Mirai's programs even better than my favorite Sasha's programs. Mirai has already done more than Sasha in one sense by skating two near perfect programs in one major competitions... Only hope she can keep it up and in that sense be more like Michelle than Sasha.
Is Mirai the next Sasha?
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Well, I agree I was awed by the freedom Mirai had in both of her performances. She didn't hold back at all and yet she still managed to be so crisp and on as you say. Comparing Mirai and Sasha, overall I still think that overall Sasha's SP at the 2006 Olympics and SP at 2004 Worlds are better. I find those programs absolutely stunning, especially the one in 2004. But hopefully I will soon say I like one of Mirai's programs even better than my favorite Sasha's programs. Mirai has already done more than Sasha in one sense by skating two near perfect programs in one major competitions... Only hope she can keep it up and in that sense be more like Michelle than Sasha.
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Agree with Layfan with hope that Mirai's career can be more like Michelle's than Sasha's. However, I have to give Sasha all due props. She was the one who got me interested in ladies' skating. Michelle never did it for me. Guess I prefer the ballerina look - Sasha has no peer in my estimation. Although Alissa is pretty darn graceful too.
I also like the reference to Mirai being "Sasha on steroids." Funny!
I love Mirai's spirit and hope she will go as far as she wants to.
I also like the reference to Mirai being "Sasha on steroids." Funny!
I love Mirai's spirit and hope she will go as far as she wants to.
I think it's a really tall order for Nagasu to measure up to either one of those ladies though. While she can be a good performer when she is on, she does commit the horrible Cop crime of UR. Nowadays that kills you. Maybe in a 6.0 era she'd have more of a shot, but it will take her some time to fix those jumps. Plus, she has her emotions to overcome as well.
There's time, but I won't be rushing her just yet.
There's time, but I won't be rushing her just yet.
For my part I thought I saw potential for brilliance from Mirai at nationals. But I don't want to jinx her or count my chickens before they hatch. Just look at Mao. She gave up on the lutz because of edge calls, and UR calls are crushing her this season. It seems very very few skaters can stay great under CoP, although Kim Yuna is showing so far that it can be done. I agree Mirai has a long way to go. I think she has a lot of things going for and one really good thing going for her: Frank Carrol. Let's hope they keep working well together.
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Mirai seems to be blessed with the natural charisma - the "it factor" that Michelle and Sasha also had.
Aside from that - Mirai seems to be a much better athlete. Compared to Michelle or Sasha, Mirai just flies across the ice - much more like Irina or Yuna.
She has just finished a major growth spurt, but it is easy to see she is still a much bigger jumper than either Michelle or Sasha.
I wonder if we will see something special happen in the next few years with the team of Mirai , Frank and Lori. Have they come together at the right time? From the few comments I have read about this it seems Lori really likes working with Mirai. It also looks like Mirai may have made the adjustment to training with Carroll at the Toyota center.
If Evan retires and Caro either retires or leaves then Mirai will be the top skater under Frank next season - and I am hoping for this collaboration to produce some great results in the next few years.
Next season Mirai will have A-1 funding from US Skating and will undoubtably be invited to skate at the big summer shows in Japan and Korea. I mention this because the funding and income opportunity will help ease the cost of training expenses for Mirai's family. This along with added maturity (good for Carroll and his "old school tough love approach") can all help Mirai as she continues down the path of what is looking to be a very promising skating career.
I see Mirai as having the potential to be our next Ice Princess and the one who can help boost skating interest in the USA.
I don't see her as the next Sasha or the next Michelle. I think Mirai will be special in her own right.
Aside from that - Mirai seems to be a much better athlete. Compared to Michelle or Sasha, Mirai just flies across the ice - much more like Irina or Yuna.
She has just finished a major growth spurt, but it is easy to see she is still a much bigger jumper than either Michelle or Sasha.
I wonder if we will see something special happen in the next few years with the team of Mirai , Frank and Lori. Have they come together at the right time? From the few comments I have read about this it seems Lori really likes working with Mirai. It also looks like Mirai may have made the adjustment to training with Carroll at the Toyota center.
If Evan retires and Caro either retires or leaves then Mirai will be the top skater under Frank next season - and I am hoping for this collaboration to produce some great results in the next few years.
Next season Mirai will have A-1 funding from US Skating and will undoubtably be invited to skate at the big summer shows in Japan and Korea. I mention this because the funding and income opportunity will help ease the cost of training expenses for Mirai's family. This along with added maturity (good for Carroll and his "old school tough love approach") can all help Mirai as she continues down the path of what is looking to be a very promising skating career.
I see Mirai as having the potential to be our next Ice Princess and the one who can help boost skating interest in the USA.
I don't see her as the next Sasha or the next Michelle. I think Mirai will be special in her own right.
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- Sep 14, 2007
She's not the next Sasha, she's the first Mirai.
Her flexibility and extension are on par with Sasha's, but that's where the similarity ends, IMO. If I *had* to compare her to another U.S. skater, it would have to be Kristi Yamaguchi or Michelle Kwan.
YES, Mirai has similarities with Sasha in terms of her spiral and spins.
Shasha is really a beautiful skater while Mirai is an adorable skater.
Both skaters are exciting, but Mirai suffers mood swings more, hope she get to control her mentality in future.
IMO, Michelle is always consistent and calm as a queen, so, in a sense, Rachel Flat has a lot in common with Michelle.:thumbsup:
BTW, PSA announces best performances at U.S. Champs and Mirai's SP is awarded as "Best Female Performance".
"The Professional Skaters Association is proud to announce the winners of the Edi Award for Best Performances at the recent 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash.
The awards were voted on by a special committee of the PSA who observed every performance of all Junior and Senior level skaters at the Championships. One skater or team in each discipline -- men's, ladies, pairs and dance -- were chosen based on their "total performance" with an eye to costuming, presentation, music selection, choreography, style and technique. "
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100201&content_id=8006262&vkey=ice_pressrelease
Frankly, I am surprised to find that Mirai wins this award,
niether Sasha's SP in the performance wise, nor Rachel's LP in the POC / the jump wise.
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BTW, PSA announces best performances at U.S. Champs and Mirai's SP is awarded as "Best Female Performance".
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100201&content_id=8006262&vkey=ice_pressrelease
Frankly, I am surprised to find that Mirai wins this award,
niether Sasha's SP in the performance wise, nor Rachel's LP in the POC / the jump wise.
Thanks for posting the article about the PSA. I am not surprised Mirai won as I think her SP is amomg the best in US Natls history. I could not come close to saying that about any of the LP's that were skated at Natls this year.
Go Mirai
Nagasu deserved that award, I agree that it was the best performance of the competition. (her LP was pretty good as well)
I liked Flatt's SP as well, she let loose near the end and that's not often seen from her.
As for the poster that was surprised, well- seems like the audience was applauding Cohen's effort much more than her actual performance (which IMHO didn't really stand out)- same with Flatt's LP, which was solid but doesn't really inspire the viewer. OTOH, Nagasu really sold her SP and had a certain charisma to it that I just didn't see from the other performances.
I liked Flatt's SP as well, she let loose near the end and that's not often seen from her.
As for the poster that was surprised, well- seems like the audience was applauding Cohen's effort much more than her actual performance (which IMHO didn't really stand out)- same with Flatt's LP, which was solid but doesn't really inspire the viewer. OTOH, Nagasu really sold her SP and had a certain charisma to it that I just didn't see from the other performances.
Thanks for posting the article about the PSA. I am not surprised Mirai won as I think her SP is amomg the best in US Natls history. I could not come close to saying that about any of the LP's that were skated at Natls this year.
Go Mirai
In any case, Mirai's SP was the best performance in THIS ladies competition. Jumps much more secure than Sasha's. And everything else was gorgeous. There weren't really any major weaknesses you could point to in that SP. unlike every other program performed at nationals.
i'm sure RachaeL's SP and Rachael's LP and maybe Sasha's SP were considered though.
Congratulations Mirai!
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- Dec 28, 2006
I very much agree with her getting best female performance. She stole all of our hearts.
That said, I expect Mirai to skate just as well if not better at the Olympics. She is comiing in with no pressure at all and if she tries the 3/3 like Frank said she might then she could do very well. Once again it is the underroattions which could kill her, if we were under 6.0 where underotations were not thought about, she could eaily pull a Sarah Hughes.
That said, I expect Mirai to skate just as well if not better at the Olympics. She is comiing in with no pressure at all and if she tries the 3/3 like Frank said she might then she could do very well. Once again it is the underroattions which could kill her, if we were under 6.0 where underotations were not thought about, she could eaily pull a Sarah Hughes.
Yeah, I wondered about that though ... shouldn't Mirai work on the UR issues before thinking about putting a 3/3 in competition?
I'll be pretty curious to see where both Mirai and Rachael land the standings if they skate their SPs the way they did at nationals. I consider both those SPs very competitive. But I'm no judge.
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- Dec 12, 2005
I would definitely say there are similarities between certain elements of their skating (clean edges, nice lines, beautiful spirals, flexibility), but it ends there. Mirai has great presence on the ice, as does Sasha, but it is different... Mirai has an elegant and charming charisma while Sasha is more of an actress on ice. Mirai also seems to have what it takes to keep it together under pressure. She came out and wowed the crowd as a baby ballerina and took home gold at Nats 2 years ago, but she has now transitioned into a lady. Her rocky season last year would more be due to the changing of her body than Sasha's rocky seasons which mostly came about from stress. Most of all, Mirai has proven she can put two clean programs together under pressure. Skating after Flatt at National's had to be difficult, but Mirai got out there and did it... that shows a strength of mind that Sasha has lacked over her competitive career. One other difference would also be their attitudes... Mirai always seems to take the ice with joy, regardless of the situation, while Sasha is more serious, and sometimes that detracts from her skating, especially when the program isn't clean. Mirai is more like Michelle Kwan in style and attitude than Sasha... she just simply has Sasha's flexibility and grace.
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It is a very realistic opinion.
I hope Mirai will put a 3/3 in her SP like she did in the '08 Nats, but the judging system get stricter and stricter,
and her body line gets changed so I doubt she can do a 3/3 now in the same quality with younger Mirai did.
Hope she can overcome the UR issues and challenge a 3/3 in future though.
Meantime, is it possible for her to hold her DGs at least 3 like her LP in the level of '10Nats?
IIRC, she got 5 DG out of her 7 jumps in LP at the Cup of China last year.
This is too sorrowful.
Despite the fact she has bad disadvantages of the UR issues,
she gets an endorsement from "Panasonic" during this Olympic.
Congratulations, Mirai!
It is a pleasant surprise that “Panasonic” has been so quick about their work.
It took only 3 weeks when Mirai became the Olympian.
They already made the official site for Mirai::thumbsup:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...mpic-figure-skater-mirai-nagasu-84216167.html
http://www.livinginhd.com/go/promo/featuredmember
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- Dec 28, 2006
Thanks! She is SO cute!
As for the downgrades, I am not surprised that she and Frank are think about the 3/3. Her jumps in practice are clean as a whistle, and even at Nationals most of her "downgrades" could have gone either way. I see Mirai in practice from time to time and my coach watched her with me once and even he said that her jumps (including some 3 lutz/3 toe attempts) were fully rotated. It is just a matter of her jumping as high and rotating as fast when it counts as she does in practice.
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- Jan 14, 2008
Now that the judges are no longer told about underrotation calls, they just add or subtract GOE based on how the jump looks to them. So if she does a 3F+3T and doesn't manage to fully rotate the 3T, it probably won't be worth that much less than if she did a 3F+2T. I think it's worth the risk, because a triple-triple could be the point difference that puts her on the podium.
That is encouraging news and I'm jealous that you get to watch Mirai practice - pretty cool!
I have to say I really like this description of Sasha, Michelle and Mirai's skating - at least where their artistry came from. It's true - Sasha was about creating a character or at least a persona on ice, and I loved that about her. Michelle was more about showing her inner joy and passion and feel for the music. That's why I always found it difficult to decide who I liked better. They were both their own wonderful thing. With Mirai, I think she is her own thing and has the potential to get her style together even more. Mirai and Kim Yuna are two skaters who have gotten me past always comparing skaters to Michelle or Sasha or whoever. I just love their skating for itself.
