Mirai Nagasu Panasonic ads and her chances at the olympics

[jeff goldblum]

There are three new Mirai Nagasu spots up on Youtube today. They were apparently produced in conjunction with the recent sponsorship deal which features Mirai and her family in their Living in HD campaign. They are pretty adorable and include a general practice video, Mirai skating with some 3D glasses, and a runthrough of her short program. In that order:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wv0mqvd8_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILvkV7WqxXU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB9D9GeOpDk

She looks pretty good, but I have to say she really comes alive in competition. As pleasant as she is in the practice videos, she seems to have comparitively more speed in fire in competition. I hope it serves her well in Vancouver. I also hope she'll be inspired by Evan's victory in the men's event.

In regards to her doing a triple-triple in the short program, do we think she should attempt it or not. She'll have to do it much cleaner than she did in this video if she wants it to count fully, but it seems like a worthwhile risk. She is clearly not a favorite or even a contender for a medal, so I'd imagine that both she and Frank are looking for the experience factor here. That said, it seems like there's no real reason for her to play it safe. If she ends up doing it and the judges don't downgrade she might find herself rather high in the standings.

Only a few more days now.

Here's hoping our two woman team will shake things up a bit.

[silverlake22]

The 3-3 looks decent in the video, and I'm sure in competition she'll have more attack. I say she should go for it here and play it safe at Worlds where the placement actually matters. She has nothing to lose at the Olympics and if the judges give her credit for it she'll likely get a high score. She's such a cute girl, thanks for sharing these videos! Best of luck to Mirai!

[DesertRoad]

I manage to pause the YouTube vid at the right moment to see her blade touchdown before 90° on both her 3lutz and 3toe. They're both under-rotated by COP standards. :X

[gfskater]

I manage to pause the YouTube vid at the right moment to see her blade touchdown before 90° on both her 3lutz and 3toe. They're both under-rotated by COP standards. :X

You have got to be kidding! There is no way you can see that from that angle and 100 feet away no zoom.

[Tinymavy15]

Her 3/3 looks really good, but I wish she would just do it in the freeskate and focus on skating a clean short. Then again, she really has nothing to lose. As for underroatation, the toe looked border-line in that video. I have seen her do them much cleaner than that in practice.

[ks777]

I manage to pause the YouTube vid at the right moment to see her blade touchdown before 90° on both her 3lutz and 3toe. They're both under-rotated by COP standards. :X

some people seem to have no life.

[Layfan]

Her 3/3 looks really good, but I wish she would just do it in the freeskate and focus on skating a clean short. Then again, she really has nothing to lose. As for underroatation, the toe looked border-line in that video. I have seen her do them much cleaner than that in practice.

I was going to say the same thing. If she tries it should it be in the short or long? I've been thinking more and more about Mirai's SP. She actually has a pretty competitive SP when she skates it perfectly. All season long it's been a similar story - her SP leaves her high in the rankings and then her LP brings her down. I've been wondering if we might all be surprised at Mirai's standings after the SP. Depends on what others do of course, but still.
Should she risk what has actually been a decently competitive LP by trying the 3-3?
Let's say she doesn't and ends up within striking distance of a medal after the SP anyway. Let's say she's 4th. You never know. Then, does the "nothing to lose" story line change completely? Should she just try to be as clean as possible? Or maybe it doesn't and maybe she and Frank figure there's no way she'd keep her position and might as well try the 3-3.

It's interesting. Rachael's in a much more comfortable position. She already does everything she possibly can in both her programs and has only to do it and see where she ends up.

[DesertRoad]

You have got to be kidding! There is no way you can see that from that angle and 100 feet away no zoom.

It's the magic of HD. But no, you can see the blade touching down on the ice well before the rotation reaches 90°.

some people seem to have no life.

Hostility won't make Mirai's triples less likely to be downgraded.

[silverlake22]

I was going to say the same thing. If she tries it should it be in the short or long? I've been thinking more and more about Mirai's SP. She actually has a pretty competitive SP when she skates it perfectly. All season long it's been a similar story - her SP leaves her high in the rankings and then her LP brings her down. I've been wondering if we might all be surprised at Mirai's standings after the SP. Depends on what others do of course, but still.
Should she risk what has actually been a decently competitive LP by trying the 3-3?
Let's say she doesn't and ends up within striking distance of a medal after the SP anyway. Let's say she's 4th. You never know. Then, does the "nothing to lose" story line change completely? Should she just try to be as clean as possible? Or maybe it doesn't and maybe she and Frank figure there's no way she'd keep her position and might as well try the 3-3.

It's interesting. Rachael's in a much more comfortable position. She already does everything she possibly can in both her programs and has only to do it and see where she ends up.

If she tries it in the LP she will have to change her jump layout, in her current layout she already has two 3t planned so by doing a 3lz-3t or 3f-3t she'd have to change her program up a bit which I'm not sure is the best idea. Plus she already has the 2a-3t planned in the LP which is valuable and risky enough I think.

As for the SP, I think there is a good possibility Mirai will be ahead of Rachael in the SP, just judging from their scores this season. Mirai got 62+ for her SP at her first competition, and her jumps have gotten smoother and steadier since and her performance quality has improved. Rachael on the other hand has not broken 60 internationally for her SP this whole season, her strength is the LP. Mirai could potentially be top 5 after the SP regardless of if she does the 3-3 or not considering Rachael and Akiko are LP skaters and Carolina, Laura, and Mao are unpredictable. Her SP score was the 4th highest this season, meaning if she goes for the 3-3 in the SP and gets credit for it, she could have a good margin to stay up pretty high in the standings going into the FS incase she gets a couple downgrades. She's not one to fall a lot either, so I think if she wants to try the 3-3 she should in the SP here. At worlds though she should focus on being clean.

[Layfan]

If she tries it in the LP she will have to change her jump layout, in her current layout she already has two 3t planned so by doing a 3lz-3t or 3f-3t she'd have to change her program up a bit which I'm not sure is the best idea. Plus she already has the 2a-3t planned in the LP which is valuable and risky enough I think.

As for the SP, I think there is a good possibility Mirai will be ahead of Rachael in the SP, just judging from their scores this season. Mirai got 62+ for her SP at her first competition, and her jumps have gotten smoother and steadier since and her performance quality has improved. Rachael on the other hand has not broken 60 internationally for her SP this whole season, her strength is the LP. Mirai could potentially be top 5 after the SP regardless of if she does the 3-3 or not considering Rachael and Akiko are LP skaters and Carolina, Laura, and Mao are unpredictable. Her SP score was the 4th highest this season, meaning if she goes for the 3-3 in the SP and gets credit for it, she could have a good margin to stay up pretty high in the standings going into the FS incase she gets a couple downgrades. She's not one to fall a lot either, so I think if she wants to try the 3-3 she should in the SP here. At worlds though she should focus on being clean.

Well, I buy all this! Thanks for the insight into jump layout.

Only thing I'd add is that Rachael never did a clean SP internationally this season so we don't know what scores she'd get if she did. I think she would have broken 60 at SA for sure has she skated it the way she did at nationals.

However, I agree with you that if both are clean Mirai should be ahead of Rachael after the SP.

Well, it would be amazing if Mirai landed a 3-3 in the SP. Whether she tries it will come down to whether she does it consistently in practices just before, I think. Frank's no fool.

[silverlake22]

Well, I buy all this! Thanks for the insight into jump layout.

Only thing I'd add is that Rachael never did a clean SP internationally this season so we don't know what scores she'd get if she did. I think she would have broken 60 at SA for sure has she skated it the way she did at nationals.

However, I agree with you that if both are clean Mirai should be ahead of Rachael after the SP.

Well, it would be amazing if Mirai landed a 3-3 in the SP. Whether she tries it will come down to whether she does it consistently in practices just before, I think. Frank's no fool.

That's my thinking. And I think Rachael with a clean SP with the 3-3 should be 60-63 points but Mirai with her good spins, spirals, speed, and artistry could maybe get 65 or higher, especially if she does the 3-3 and gets credit for it. I'm really excited for the event to start, hope the two Americans bring it!

[clonesheep]

Nagasu's chance of getting a medal of any color is zero, so let's not waste our time on it. When USFSA decided not sending Ashley Wagner to Vancouver that's the end of it.

[Mathman]

Nagasu's chance of getting a medal of any color is zero, so let's not waste our time on it. When USFSA decided not sending Ashley Wagner to Vancouver that's the end of it.

How could they have "decided" to send Wagner? The U.S. had only two spots. Rachael came first and Mirai second.

[katymay]

I disagree. This is figure skating, on ICE and anything can happen. Both Mirai and Rachel stand a chance to stand on the podium. Just like any other competition, there are at least seven girls who stand a chance to medal. Mao, Miki, Yuna, Caroline, Rachel, Mirai and perhaps the Russian girl whose name escapes me. (sorry).

[Dark-Eyes]

I manage to pause the YouTube vid at the right moment to see her blade touchdown before 90° on both her 3lutz and 3toe. They're both under-rotated by COP standards. :X

Judging by how they scored Plushenko's LP, they are not calling URs at the Olympics. She should be fine!