I feel sorry for Mirai Nagasu

[rallycairn]

chuckm, I completely agree.

Thank you, volk, for posting the clip. Oh, good heavens, Ashley was looking/facing forward and Mirai was on the monitor off to her side. She wasn't watching Mirai's reaction at the moment she gave a [quite brief] smile IMO at all. She made what was to me a wry smile -- the kind of expression one has when one is disappointed in oneself but something good happens anyway. Others have compared it to Mao and that is spot on. When you know you coulda and shoulda done better, but you still get the breaks, or when you know you squeaked by based on your early lead even if you faltered later -- you feel glad for winning and mad at yourself at the same time. That's what I read from Ashley's expressions.

I'm no Wagner fan, but I can't fault her here. I don't think she was noticing that her own reaction was coinciding with Mirai's image on a video monitor, for Pete's sake.

Definitely that camera shot, and all the cutting to the other skaters waiting for the results, was meant to induce drama. And apparently succeeded.

I do feel horrible for Mirai.

[Bentley]

I think at some point people need to stop pointing fingers at the USFSA and understand the skaters are accountable for what they put out there. Mirai's COC LP was arguably superior to her skate last night, yet at Nationals she scored almost 6 points higher. She has been docked points for underrotations all year and she failed to fully rotate a number of her jumps last night. The complaints should be directed to a scoring system that values falls over downgrades, not some conspiracy that the USFSA is trying to promote Gracie (with a 9th place SP) and slam Mirai (with her 3rd place SP).

I could not agree more. Marai is the one who is responsible for her poor skate. no one eles. And if she was really as sick as some claim than she should have withdrawn.

[pangtongfan]

Looking over the skates again I actually think Nagasu was overplaced. She should have been about 9th. No way should she have beaten Cesario who had a beautiful skate. Seeing people even suggest she should have placed 2nd or 3rd is so off base with reality it is almost aggravating to read. Implying she should have ever beaten Christina Gao who had a wonderful skate (and was majorly screwed by the way) is just so wrong. The most anyone should even be arguing her placing is 6th. She made numerous mistakes on a day everyone else besides Ashley (who can afford mistakes for obvious reasons) and Agnes skated lights out, and her presentation and expression were almost non existent to boot.

[Olympia]

I think you're probably right, but there's the added wrinkle of her illness, which is just one of those unfortunate cosmic downers that can't be foreseen or completely overcome.

I feel bad for Mirai but even worse for Caroline, who really seems to have given it her all, especially in the long program. I feel that Gao wuzrobbed, but at least with her I feel that she has some possibilities for her future. I don't really know how much of a future Caroline and Mirai have in the pecking order of American ladies, unless they take a quantum leap in their respective performance skills.

[Icey]

Mirai is only 19!!!!. So one more Olympic cycle after this one is certainly possible if she wants to continue.

[change of edge]

I'm really sad for Mirai too. She has been working hard all year and I think she wanted this a lot more than she made it seem from her interviews. I hope she comes back and gives it another go for next season. First alternate at worlds in 2011, first alternate to the GPF (after being an alternate the previous two years) and now first alternate to Four Continents...It must be exceptionally frustrating for her, and I really hope next season will be much kinder to her. She'll have to work hard to fix those UR's, but if she does, I think she has a real shot at that Olympic team.

[Nadia01]

I'm so torn about Mirai.

She did so well in Vancouver (placing 4th) but since then she hasn't been able to capitalize on that and build her own momentum to carry her to Sochi. Her URs, inconsistent result, etc. since Vancouver are all on her, not on anybody else, and it's not the federation's fault or her competitors' fault that she can't rotate her jumps or that she's been very inconsistent. I'm sure her federation would've LOVED to have her be strong. I can't imagine the federation wanting its skaters to suck, and Mirai made her mark earlier than Ashley, so she could've been the "it" girl and gotten all the support.

[samson]

It's really interesting to watch how this thread is developing. I actually FINALLY got to watch the skate instead of just studying the protocols and speculating based on what others have said. It was much better than I had anticipated!

Granted I'm not a skating professional and I fully admit to lacking always telling when a jump is UR, but I've been watching the sport closely since '98 and for my money the only triples that were "obviously" UR in real time were the second loop and flip. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Could someone explain to me why she got a deduction for a fall? I thought your butt had to hit the ice. I don't think that happened...

Anyway regardless of the UR I send so much love and respect her way for what she did. You could see her fighting throughout the entire program, and also see her struggling. She also looked surprisingly calm and focused when it comes to being "mentally" prepared. She was. In fact, I would argue that if she had been healthy she would have been "2010" mentally ready to go. Jumps aside it was still one of my favorite skates of the night.

I noticed Mirai has posted on twitter saying "So grateful to everyone who supported me last night thank you." then she congratulated everyone in Omaha.

Also I know it's been posted in another thread, but USFSA did announce international assignments and she was named 3rd alternate to worlds and 1st alternate to 4CC. I'm sure that in part this is because Yasmin, Samantha, and Courtney were assigned Junior Worlds, but I think (hope) it's also that USFSA is trying to find a way to tell her she's not out of the game yet if she doesn't want to be.

Last year, Scott and Tracy did nothing but dump on Mirai during her skate, this year they really seemed supportive of her, which I'm willing to bet reflects a shift in the winds in others' perceptions of her.

[Blades of Passion]

Mirai's second 3Loop getting a << call was total crap, but otherwise the calls were correct. I could see all 4 of her < in real time (5 when we count the double toeloop she underrotated). The 3Toe and the first 3Flip were close, but still short. There was a noticeable lack of zing in the jumps throughout the whole program, which made her performance even more lifeless. She was a skating zombie out there most of the time. 7th overall is where she deserved to end up, sadly, and 11th in the LP was fair too.

[chuckm]

Mirai's 2nd loop was right in front of me and it was very obviously underrotated so I wasn't surprised it was downgraded. I agree Mirai looked lifeless out there, as if she were on autopilot, and rateher slow. I wasn't shocked when her mark and placement were announced.

Mirai is the only one who can determine where to go from there. She either works hard on her jumps so she has more spring and can complete the rotations, and picks music that moves her emotionally so she can show that emotion when she skates. She needs to do both to do a complete turnaround. It's up to her.

[ForeverFish]

I could not agree more. Marai is the one who is responsible for her poor skate. no one eles. And if she was really as sick as some claim than she should have withdrawn.

You mean you couldn't see how exhausted and sluggish she was?

And I'd like to point out that Elizaveta Tuktamysheva almost withdrew from the Russian Nationals FS due to a bad cold, but decided to tough it out and ended up winning the whole event.

[skatel80]

I feel terrible for her, the look of devastation on her face was awful to see, It is obvious that she has worked so hard ths season and to see it end like this is heart breaking! I knew that there would be some urs but when I saw the score I was shocked, so was she by her reaction, On the plus side her jumps when she hits them now are better than ever, that 3lz at the start was stunning keep fighting mirai

[Layfan]

Has Mirai spoken out yet? I keep thinking about her SP ... She smiled and performed. Sure, she was "in and out" in terms of performance vs. obvious look of concentration and she's always had that problem a bit but after I saw it on the big screen I realized how much she did put into the performance.

And then there was the LP and it was like a completely different skater. I guess the combo of illness/pressure/nerves were too much. She's just someone who can't hide her moods. The UR is a different issue but of course, if you do have that weakness than most likely it's going to come out rearing its head even more when you are feeling so crappy. Argh, what a disaster of a night for her.

What's next for Mirai? Is she finished? Does she still have any chance at all for the Olympic team? Should she change coaches?

[Nadia01]

Should she change coaches?

Who can she go to? Frank C couldn't seem to be able to do much for her, and I'm not sure who else can give her the guidance and help she needs to be successful.

[drivingmissdaisy]

What's next for Mirai? Is she finished? Does she still have any chance at all for the Olympic team? Should she change coaches?

Her team isn't effectively addressing the UR problem she has, so maybe she does need a new coach. She really shouldn't be spending time working on a 3F-3T when she has problems rotating jumps in the 2nd half of her programs. Even her successful jumps in the LP, like the 3Z and 2A, had a hook on the landing and were probably just barely within the 1/4 turn margin for full credit. If she can do a 3F-2T and 3L in the short and a 6 triple long, getting full credit for everything, she would win this title every year.