Predictions

[burntBREAD]

i hate to say it --but Mirai's" injury" is HEALED -shouldn't affect it.

jet lag will, probably pressure.
and No practing will effect performance as well.- i don't mean injury wise.sorry about the snipe- but no one brought up c zhangs injury last year when she skated -so mirai's injury is a non-factor since it is healed, but than she is like sasha each year comes out with and injury to excuse her skating ability.

I think you need to take a chill pill and relax with all the rude comments about every skater except Caroline Zhang. I love Caroline, but I don't think she would want a fan of hers to just heap insults upon others. BTW I'm Chinese too, so I'm not racist, so don't even try to pull that card

[SerpentineSteps]

i hate to say it --but Mirai's" injury" is HEALED -shouldn't affect it.

jet lag will, probably pressure.
and No practing will effect performance as well.- i don't mean injury wise.sorry about the snipe- but no one brought up c zhangs injury last year when she skated -so mirai's injury is a non-factor since it is healed, but than she is like sasha each year comes out with and injury to excuse her skating ability.

While I agree with you that people are making a bigger deal out of this injury than warranted, having had an injury during the summer, though healed, DEFINITELY affects your performance for a while after.

I'm an internationally competitive marathon runner, and I know from personal experience that more likely than not, people rebound from stress fractures pretty easily. This said, stress fractures require you to take off at least 6 weeks from training, meaning that, the athlete needs to regain stamina over the course of a few months before being up to 100%...

... and if you're under the assumption that skating full-speed for 4 minutes while landing crazy jumps doesn't take stamina, that's a whole other issue that you need to wrap your mind around. This, with the fact that it takes time to become comfortable enough with a program to really sell it, makes it likely that Mirai won't be at 100% at this first event (though I doubt that many skaters are at this point).

So, in short: yes it has an effect, but no, we shouldn't panic.

[prettykeys]

Ladies (I'm most familiar with them)
1. Ando
2. Suzuki
3. Leonova

I wish Mirai does well, and I'd normally put her in the top 3, but I'm concerned about what we heard about her fairly recent injury.

Men
1. Kozuka
2. Joubert
3. I guess Contesti

Pairs
1. Pang/Tong

[Jammers]

Worries me when i hear Mirai is lacking speed and seems tired. The foot injury has affected her stamina no doubt. One of Mirai's greatest strengths has always been her speed and Frank improved her stamina last season. A top 3 finish would be a victory i think.

[dlgpffps]

but Mirai's" injury" is HEALED -shouldn't affect it.

Still hesistant to put her as my gold prediction. An injury nags at you at your worst times. Pop one jump & a skater starts to doubt oneself. The timing of jumps can get off. Entrance might be slowed, leading to UR. The skater might just steam out & give up mid-way. I know Mirai's legs are "golden" but I doubt her mental strength. Worlds 2010 could have been hers My prediction is still Miki, Akiko and Mirai, in that order, but if Mirai skates strong, I'm all for her win.

Has Mirai given any interviews?

[Layfan]

Well, I haven't had tooooo much luck with predictions so far, except for skate Canada where I got all the top four men right and Alissa for gold

but here goes:

Women:

1. Miki Ando
2. Mirai Nagasu
3. Akiko Suzuki

Men:
1. Brian Joubert
2. Kozuka
3. Verner or Contesti or Mroz or ... a surprise. I guess that's cheating but as Joesitz said in another thread a lot of these guys are good but iffy competitors...

I really want to put Mirai first but based on Polymer's practice report - Miki is looking good! When she is on, she's always tough to beat. I'm still keeping Mirai second even though she apparently is struggling. She and Miki are potentially the highest scorers of the bunch by far.

In very early competitions, neither Suzuki or Leonova posted particulary high scores... but I sort of just give the edge to Suzuki. I kinda like Alena's quirkly programs this year and while I think Suzuki's are a bit on the generic side, I think she sells her choreo better.

Good luck to everyone!!!!!!

ETA:

Still hesistant to put her as my gold prediction. An injury nags at you at your worst times. Pop one jump & a skater starts to doubt oneself. The timing of jumps can get off. Entrance might be slowed, leading to UR. The skater might just steam out & give up mid-way. I know Mirai's legs are "golden" but I doubt her mental strength. Worlds 2010 could have been hers My prediction is still Miki, Akiko and Mirai, in that order, but if Mirai skates strong, I'm all for her win.

Has Mirai given any interviews?

It's a bummer for Mirai that her world's LP is the last thing people remember about her last season. As far as I'm concerned, she proved herself to be a tough competitor with solid GP performances, two back-to-back awesome nationals programs and two back-to-back stellar Olympic performances. If she had been just as near-flawless at worlds it would have been astonishing. Yuna struggled at worlds, Rachael struggled at worlds...Yet people don't seem to question their mental toughness

[dlgpffps]

It's a bummer for Mirai that her world's LP is the last thing people remember about her last season. As far as I'm concerned, she proved herself to be a tough competitor with solid GP performances, two back-to-back awesome nationals programs and two back-to-back stellar Olympic performances. If she had been just as near-flawless at worlds it would have been astonishing. Yuna struggled at worlds, Rachael struggled at worlds...Yet people don't seem to question their mental toughness

Well that's because it was such a big Her Nationals & Olympic showings were amazing, but she ended her season with a meltdown taking her from 1st to 7th. That was the last impression she gave. Everyone struggled at Worlds 2010 (it was an underwhelming event, to say the least), but mostly because of fatigue or lack of motivation. Mirai gave an amazing short & had good practices. I wouldn't say she suffered from either... so peope can't help but wonder why.

She's definitely not a bundle of nerves. Don't get me wrong. I just think pressure gets to her more than some other athletes. It's not like she was the heavy favorite going into Nationals or the Olympics.

[Tonichelle]

Mirai gave an amazing short & had good practices. I wouldn't say she suffered from either... so peope can't help but wonder why.

She's definitely not a bundle of nerves. Don't get me wrong. I just think pressure gets to her more than some other athletes. It's not like she was the heavy favorite going into Nationals or the Olympics.

I agree it was pressure. For the first time all season all hopes were riding on her, and she felt it.

[Layfan]

Well that's because it was such a big Her Nationals & Olympic showings were amazing, but she ended her season with a meltdown taking her from 1st to 7th. That was the last impression she gave. Everyone struggled at Worlds 2010 (it was an underwhelming event, to say the least), but mostly because of fatigue or lack of motivation. Mirai gave an amazing short & had good practices. I wouldn't say she suffered from either... so peope can't help but wonder why.

She's definitely not a bundle of nerves. Don't get me wrong. I just think pressure gets to her more than some other athletes. It's not like she was the heavy favorite going into Nationals or the Olympics.

At Nationals, she was first after the SP and had to skate last in the FS after Rachael and Ashley had skated very well. The Olympic team was on the line. Sounds pretty scary to me but she held it together. And it's true that there was no major pressure on her or Rachael at the Olympics, but Mirai still had to skate last. She could have done a Laeticia Hubert but she didn't.

You are right that pressure got to her at worlds in a big way, and she admitted it herself... But I'm through underestimating her competitive abilities is all I'm saying.

[silverlake22]

After the SP the odds are not looking good for Contesti or Leonova, especially Contesti, he doesn't have the PCS to help him out.

[dlgpffps]

You are right that pressure got to her at worlds in a big way, and she admitted it herself... But I'm through underestimating her competitive abilities is all I'm saying.

What I meant to say was that pressure has affected her in the past & it might again this time because of the injury, even though she has healed, for two reasons (1) she lost training time and (2) you forget about an injury when you're doing great, but once you start to falter it gets at you full thrust. You start to doubt yourself & you can't shake away the thought of that injury. I've been there before. Know it firsthand.

Maybe I do underestimate her competitive abilities a bit, but that's because of the tears she shed last COC when she was first after the SP. That was a big shocker. I admit she's much, much better now & the good showings last season have probably helped her confidence, but well you never know.

I'd love for Mirai to prove me wrong & blow everyone away with a clean LP, running away with her first GP gold, but I don't predict it. That's all.

[fairly4]

burntbread
i am sorry you feel that way,
and pressure for the U.s Ladies no matter who they are to do well.
and jetlag and pressure does affect performance.
she and most other us skaters used injury and a way out not to do well or explain their performance especially if it is bad.
not all U.S. skaters used to use injury as a way out. they just stated not our day/something wasn't right, didn't use so-so injury for their placement/or bad skating like is today that is so prevelant.