Nagasu | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Nagasu

tampro1

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 30, 2005
I wish people wouldn't always equate "fit" with "thin." Detroit Lion's defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is fit as a fiddle at 307 pounds. :yes:
I'm not sure everyone is equating fit with thin. I think many posters are careful or sensitive about using words like fat, overweight, etc. So they say not that fit or needs to be fitter. Silverlake22 made some really good points about the muscle definition of Ashley, Agnes, Caroline and Miki. I don't remember what Agnes looked like before this season. Ashley and Caroline did not look the way they did 2 years ago. They were able to be more defined or "fit." Certainly Mirai could as well. You could always tell if Tonya Harding was going to be a threat that season because she would show up in fighting weight.
Ndamkong Suh is definitely fit, but he doesn't have to rotate 3X in the air multiple times and land on one foot wearing a blade. lol
 
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Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
And Suh doesn't have to look like a delicate flower either landing with a graceful edge and flow :)
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
I think many posters are careful or sensitive about using words like fat, overweight, etc. So they say not that fit or needs to be fitter.
It doesn't really matter what word is used - the meaning comes across. People have been calling Mirai overweight all season. To me it seems as though Mirai has her new woman's proportions now. She's not a gangly 14-year-old any more.

I wish we had reports from someone who trains with her because all the speculation is frustrating.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
It doesn't really matter what word is used - the meaning comes across. People have been calling Mirai overweight all season. To me it seems as though Mirai has her new woman's proportions now. She's not a gangly 14-year-old any more.

I wish we had reports from someone who trains with her because all the speculation is frustrating.

She can have her woman's proportions and still be more fit. For example, Caroline has looked very fit all season, but she still looks womanly. She's never going to have the body type she did pre-2010 again, but she certainly looks more fit/defined/cut this season compared to last season, when she was not overweight in the least but did not look as fit as she could be. I don't even know if she has lost any weight since last season, she probably has but I would guess not that much pounds-wise, but she now looks like an elite athlete who is in top form, whereas she did not last season. Ashley is not a stick figure either, but she is so strong, you can tell by just looking at her, that she is in great shape, with her defined muscles. There's a video on icenetwork with Agnes after her great SP at Nationals and she said that she works out a lot more this season and has started watching what she eats and she contributed that to her great SP. No one is saying Mirai should try and get back to her 14 year old body, but she could get in better shape while maintaining her woman's proportions, from the looks of it. Ashley, Caroline, and Agnes all appear to be in great shape this season, without being built like gangly 14 year olds. Again, some people will be naturally very thin or muscular and will not have to work as hard to maintain a fighting weight/musculature, but others are not, and regardless of what your natural body type may be, fitness is extremely important to be at the top of the spot. Yuna Kim, for example, has always been very slight, she could probably eat bread and sweets all day and still stay very slender, but she doesn't, because even if it didn't effect her weight, it would affect her fitness levels and performance.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
It doesn't really matter what word is used - the meaning comes across. People have been calling Mirai overweight all season. To me it seems as though Mirai has her new woman's proportions now. She's not a gangly 14-year-old any more.

I wish we had reports from someone who trains with her because all the speculation is frustrating.

i do agree with this. I feel like there's been seven versions of this thread with everyone saying the same seven things...

I do find the discussion about fit vs. thin interesting though.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Why won't her parents allow her to live with a skating family near Frank to train consistently?

This is what I would like to know. It sounds like her mom is one of those legendary skating moms and think she knows what's best for Mirai, which maybe on a personal level she does, but I dare say she doesn't in terms of training situation because not only has Mirai not been skating well this season, she doesn't seem happy either, and also seems very distracted. Something's got to give.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
This is what I would like to know. It sounds like her mom is one of those legendary skating moms and think she knows what's best for Mirai, which maybe on a personal level she does, but I dare say she doesn't in terms of training situation because not only has Mirai not been skating well this season, she doesn't seem happy either, and also seems very distracted. Something's got to give.

I suspect motivation is the big issue here. Olympic gold drove Kwan, Slutskaya, Cohen and others to continue skating longer than they probably would have. The high finish in Torino likely gave Mirai optimism for Sochi, but I think she realizes that even replicating that placement is becoming unlikely as her peers are improving and excellent young skaters are coming up through the ranks. So I can't blame her if she is a bit disheartened when she puts in all this work, yet her placement continues to decline.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I suspect motivation is the big issue here. Olympic gold drove Kwan, Slutskaya, Cohen and others to continue skating longer than they probably would have. The high finish in Torino likely gave Mirai optimism for Sochi, but I think she realizes that even replicating that placement is becoming unlikely as her peers are improving and excellent young skaters are coming up through the ranks. So I can't blame her if she is a bit disheartened when she puts in all this work, yet her placement continues to decline.

She still gets rewarded by the judges when she skates well though. We saw that at 4CC last season and even at COC, where for what she did and considering how early in the season it was, her marks were pretty good. Mirai can compete with the World's best when she skates well, which is the task of the day, it seems. It's not like she's a Rachael Flatt and will never have enough to be on top even if she's perfect.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
She can pull good marks but she cannot (currently) outjump the girls that consistently get better PCS, which she needs to do to place ahead of them. And next year, even if she has a PCS advantage on Gracie and the Russians, they can more than make up the difference in TES. So it will be a tall order for her to medal at Worlds or in Sochi unless she can beef up her technical content.
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Recall that everybody has an optimal physique for their style. Midori Ito was very muscular during the 1992 Olympics. When she went for her next attempt, she had slimmed down tremendously and was definitely not the same skater.

I do agree that Mirai did not appear to be at the best level of fitness, but I don't think physical fitness had anything to do with her loss at Nationals. All the practice reports said that she was skating really well at practices and only started getting the deer in the headlights look on the day of the competition. It's definitely a mental situation at this point IMHO.

When I think back, she was the rising star - so, she could skate with joy because she was not expected to win. Then, when she got 4th at the Olympics, people expected her to win at least a spot on the podium and gold at Nationals. Then, she started worrying about not winning, but if she made a mistake she still kept at it. Now,she just seems to be worried about making mistakes during competiton; so, when one happens, she's just giving up. She really needs to learn to just want to skate her best, which doesn't mean prefection every single time, but at least it might make her happy again.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
When I think back, she was the rising star - so, she could skate with joy because she was not expected to win. Then, when she got 4th at the Olympics, people expected her to win at least a spot on the podium and gold at Nationals. Then, she started worrying about not winning, but if she made a mistake she still kept at it. Now,she just seems to be worried about making mistakes during competiton; so, when one happens, she's just giving up.

Well, she DID burst onto the scene with her Nationals win in 2008. So she wasn't exactly flying under the radar. Then there was her rather bumpy 2009 season which happened before the Olympic run.

Something happened after that 2010 season though, because from there on out, it's been downhill/steady. Perhaps it's a motivation issue, and/or a mental one. I thought last season would wake her up, but I guess she hadn't fallen far enough yet. Now I predict something big will happen- either she will retire, announce coach change or move closer to Carroll.

Team Nagasu has been strangely quiet since Nationals which has caused a lot of this pointless speculation anyway.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
There isn't much reason to give updates on Nagasu since her season is over.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Mirai's been quiet too. She hasn't updated her Twitter since mid-February. But the season is over, so perhaps she's taking a break from the spotlight.
 

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Given so much negativity about her and her team, I am not surprised she need a breather. And I seem to recall she read Golden Skate too before?

As I have expressed last year, maybe the trick is not to care about what others think and worried about living up to others expectations, e.g packaged as the next MK and inevitably pigeon holed herself into a corner where there's no getting out. She need to ask what she really want, what she love and what defines her. She need to skate for herself first and foremost, the rest can come in later. If that is not good enough, maybe some major changes are need in order. She definitely got the goods, but the head game is a whole different matter. Love Mirai still, and think she is still one talented cookie! And even if cookie crumbles every now and then, may be you can make a cheese cake with some loving attention and care?
 
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b-man

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
It doesn't really matter what word is used - the meaning comes across. People have been calling Mirai overweight all season. To me it seems as though Mirai has her new woman's proportions now. She's not a gangly 14-year-old any more.

I wish we had reports from someone who trains with her because all the speculation is frustrating.

Remember, both of Mirai's dresses at National's this year, the red short program dress and the light blue FS dress, had outer layers that were loose and not at all form fitting. Since 90% of the time, the viewers see these non form fitting outer layers, they assume Mirai has gained a lot of weight this year. In fact, Mirai is extremely fit and does not need to lose any weight. In fact, with very few exceptions, almost every female skater at Nat's was fit.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
So there is no chance she will be selected to the Team Trophy competition?

It will almost surely be Alissa and Ashley.

Countries qualify by points earned by their skaters during the season at various events. The individual skaters who earn the points are required to be on the team, except for injury, etc. Ashley already has a gang of points for Four Continents, and Alissa got a lot of points in the Grand Prix. She even picked up 500 points for her fifth-place finish at the GPF. Both Ashley and Alissa will earn more points from Worlds, even if they do not place well.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
It will almost surely be Alissa and Ashley.

Countries qualify by points earned by their skaters during the season at various events. The individual skaters who earn the points are required to be on the team, except for injury, etc. Ashley already has a gang of points for Four Continents, and Alissa got a lot of points in the Grand Prix. She even picked up 500 points for her fifth-place finish at the GPF. Both Ashley and Alissa will earn more points from Worlds, even if they do not place well.

So it's just based on Season's World Ranking and not overall ranking?

For the season, Ashley (ranked No. 4, 1456) is well above Mirai (No. 21, 872 points)

But overall, Mirai (No. 9, 2817) is above Ashley (No. 18, 2188). I think Ashley can pick up more points if she does well (i.e. medals) at Worlds, but it still wouldn't be enough to overtake her.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
It's just this season. And I think the point system is slightly different for the team trophy than for the season ranking list. For instance, Alissa got 203 points for her (less than stellar) performance at the Challenge Cup, but these points do not count toward the Team Trophy total.

It is not completely clear from the Team Trophy Announcement, but I think you can get points both for placement at Worlds and for Four Continents. On the season rankings list you just get the one score, whichever is highest, among all ISU championships.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
The Worlds Ranking list will change drastically once 2009/2010 data is removed and 2010/2011 data will be worth only 70% of what it was before. Mirai will drop quite a bit because 2009/2010 was her best year, her 2011 4CC points will be reduced in value, and she has no ISU championship points for this year. As it stands right now, with the data scrubbed, Wagner will outrank Mirai on the Worlds Ranking list even if Ashley finishes lower than 4th at Worlds.
 
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