Mirai posts her thoughts on Nationals

pangtongfan said:

The scary thing is Mirai could have no < and << calls, skate cleanly, and still finish behind all those first 10 you said. It is if she doesnt skate cleanly without any < and << she actually has a good shot at losing to all of that 2nd group as well. She just doesnt have high scoring potential internationaly anymore, and the womens field is one of the deepest I have ever seen. The heavy discussions over who will medal (a conversation which barely includes Gold and omits Wagner altogether now, skaters with way higher international rep than Mirai) are proof to that.

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Then it also follows that Edmunds, who also skated well at Nationals and only beat Mirai by 3 points, also doesn't have high scoring potential, especially if her PCS is reduced for Olympics/worlds. And likewise, it is also scary that if Wagner skates as she did in Boston, she won't be in the top ten either.

I was pleased that Mirai addressed this controversial decision in her own words, and the timing is perfect, after careful reflection but before the Olympics. And there is no further need to speculate about the possibility that she could/should skate for Japan! I plan to join Mirai in supporting the entire U.S. team, and will be watching Gracie, Polina and Ashley, hoping they can skate their best.

Huh? It is ridiculous to think Mirai would have a better chance of skating for Japan than the US and unless she is seeking revenge or something it actually sounds kind of crazy. Actually revenge is crazy too. Because we can jump up an down but so many people are taking this personally Mirai is a great skater. She unfortunately lost out goiong to the olympics and worlds based upon the USFSA rules or guidelines. It is sad because she was third at nationals but it was well within the rules. We can only speculate why she is making any comments and why she cose these words. No matter what it isn't gooing to change the decision and it isn't helping Mirai really move on with her life or the skaters going to Sochi.

drivingmissdaisy said:

Kwan likely would have been out of the top 10 based on her skates at worlds that year in which none of the Olympic medalists attended.

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She kind of looked and skated like a sindly colt - not really pretty to watch and jumped like a top - not much distance or amplitude. I don't think she would have or should have been top ten in 1994 Kerrigan, Chen, Baiul, Sawchenko, Chouinard, Witt,Harding, all come to mind and there were more who were better even with errors.

b-man said:

Then it also follows that Edmunds, who also skated well at Nationals and only beat Mirai by 3 points, also doesn't have high scoring potential, especially if her PCS is reduced for Olympics/worlds. And likewise, it is also scary that if Wagner skates as she did in Boston, she won't be in the top ten either.

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At Four Continents Mirai got hit with a lot of downgrades and a very low technical score. Polina is a very strong technical skater, she has the highest TES score of all the US ladies and that's with less elements available to her. She does harder content than Mirai. As for her PCS, they will go up with more exposure to the international judges.

Kwan and Bobek represented the US at Worlds 1994 when Kerrigan decided to retire after the Olympics. Bobek didn't make it out of qualifying, so 13-year-old Kwan was the lone US skater. She was 8th:

1 Yuka SATO JPN
2 Surya BONALY FRA
3 Tanja SZEWCZENKO GER
4 Marina KIELMANN GER
5 Josee CHOUINARD CAN
6 Elena LIASHENKO UKR
7 Marie-Pierre LERAY FRA
8 Michelle KWAN USA
9 Susan HUMPHREYS CAN
10 Olga MARKOVA RUS
11 Mila KAJAS FIN
12 Krisztina CZAKO HUN
13 Rena INOUE JPN
14 Nathalie KRIEG SUI
15 Anna RECHNIO POL
16 Lenka KULOVANA CZE
17 Ludmila IVANOVA UKR
18 Charlene VON-SAHER GBR
19 Alice-Sue CLAEYS BEL
20 Viktoria DIMITROVA BUL
21 Tatiana MALININA UZB
22 Ying LIU CHN
23 Inna ZAYETS UKR
R Lu CHEN CHN

Obviously she has to make a statement now especially after loosing at the 4CC because it would been weird to pursue her protest when in fact she lost in a not so competitive field weeks before the OG. A win at the 4CC would atleast "justfiy" or back her up but unfortunately she bombed it

Nagasu told to Japanese media that she got some virus (maybe flu or stomach flu) after the Nationals.

Skater Boy; said:

We can only speculate why she is making any comments and why she cose these words. No matter what it isn't gooing to change the decision and it isn't helping Mirai really move on with her life or the skaters going to Sochi.

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Huh? I think her comments may have gone right over your head. She isn't trying to change the descision and she self admits that she hasn't processed the whole thing yet. What she is doing is calming down her fans and asking them to support the US team in Sochi. Indirectly asking people to support he USFSA which quite arguably isn't supporting her. This is called being bigger than your adversity and not sinking below or to it. This is pure class and admirable on all merits.

Still haven't seen an Ashley statement wishing Marai the best and/or congratulating her on her bronze.

It would have been right for USFSA to at least send Marai to worlds. I just think she is every bit as capable as Ashley or Polina and would score similar.

And also "to move on with your life", you actually need to process what has happened to you. Otherwise you will never grow as a person. I hope this inspires her to return with renewed fire - I'm sure we have not seen the best of her yet. Go, Mirai!

Kittosuni said:

Obviously she has to make a statement now especially after loosing at the 4CC because it would been weird to pursue her protest when in fact she lost in a not so competitive field weeks before the OG. A win at the 4CC would atleast "justfiy" or back her up but unfortunately she bombed it

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She isn't pursuing a protest anyway! That came out early on. But I will agree that had she nailed it at 4CCs it would have only fanned the fire. It's really time to let this go.

But looking at that list of World participants that ChuckM posted...Rena Inouye was still skating singles. I forgot about that. :think:

Sam-Skwantch said:

It would have been right for USFSA to at least send Marai to worlds. I just think she is every bit as capable as Ashley or Polina and would score similar.

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Apparently you missed that discussion further up in this thread. MIRAI (M-i-r-a-i, not M-a-r-a-i is how it is spelled. I have issues with people misspelling my name, so it is a pet peeve when I see others' names mispelled, so bear with me on this, especially when her name is spelled correctly in the title of this thread) just got squashed (virus or no) at 4C behind some lower top 10/mid-teen Worlds skaters at 4CC mostly due to < and << calls. She had VERY low TES and it's not like it's unprecedented for her to get < and << on her jumps and only happens when she's sick. She has a technique issue that needs resolution, ESPECIALLY when she feels under pressure.
To compare:
Polina has the highest BV of ALL American ladies, so can capitalize on others' mistakes who are expected to be ahead of her at Olympics and Worlds by skating cleanly technically. Yes, she will probably have much lower PCS marks than Gracie and Ashley unless either implode. She's (clean) probably a low 60s SP and 115-125 LP (depending on the event PCS scoring) which would be MUCH higher than Mirai scored at 4C and NHK this year and even above her Rostelecom score.
When Ashley is clean or near clean, she is in that top group of skaters that placement is dependent on who is cleanest (67-70 SP, 125-135 LP). Even at Nationals with inflation and overlooked <, Mirai didn't score over 190.
To reiterate: Mirai is not currently as capable score wise as either of the two skaters. Worlds can no longer be a reward for a suprise good skate for the 3rd person on the team (like it used to be when there was ALWAYS a lady on the podium and another top 10 skater guaranteed), each member has to be there to pull their weight (finish so that the top 2 Americans score 13 placement or less). I believe USFS believes that with Mirai on the World team it would put too much pressure on the other two members of the World team.

Slowdive said:

Mirai needs to get over herself and stop being such an attention *****.

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This is very harsh but I agree that she could have waited until the end of the competitive season to make any longer statement than the brief one she gave from Boston. Especially given the focus on the future nature of the statement. Put that out when this chapter is fully closed as a new quad is beginning. Dredging up the whole thing now when Ashley is trying to leave for Sochi and put Boston out of her head just feels kind of thoughtless. And like I said before will win her no points with USFS

bekalc said:

At Four Continents Mirai got hit with a lot of downgrades and a very low technical score. Polina is a very strong technical skater, she has the highest TES score of all the US ladies and that's with less elements available to her. She does harder content than Mirai. As for her PCS, they will go up with more exposure to the international judges.

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I believe the discussion was on scoring potential, but if you want to talk TES, I will go there. Here are Total TES scores, SP + FS, for Boston Nationals.

Gold: 111.61
Edmunds: 103.35
Nagasu: 102.59
Wagner: 91.00

You are saying Edmunds has the highest TES score of all the ladies. That is not what the numbers show here. The numbers show Gold has higher TES here, by far, and possibly internationally as well. For Edmunds doing harder content than Mirai, it wasn't reflected much in the scores, as Nagasu's TES was within a point of Edmunds. Nagasu has some qualities both the judges and the audience appreciate which you overlook.

I agree with you that Edmunds PCS will go up with exposure to international judges, but that won't necessarily help her in Sochi. She is likely to be unfairly lowballed, as a new senior skater, in the Olympics. If she does well in Sochi, her PCS at worlds will likely go up, not for her performance at worlds, but for the performance she did in Sochi. That is the a flaw in PCS as it is praticed by judges, it is a lagging indicator of skating skills, it holds down new skaters who perform well, and holds up veteran skaters who perform poorly.

b-man said:

I believe the discussion was on scoring potential, but if you want to talk TES, I will go there. Here are Total TES scores, SP + FS, for Boston Nationals.

Gold: 111.61
Edmunds: 103.35
Nagasu: 102.59
Wagner: 91.00

You are saying Edmunds has the highest TES score of all the ladies. That is not what the numbers show here. The numbers show Gold has higher TES here, by far, and possibly internationally as well. For Edmunds doing harder content than Mirai, it wasn't reflected much in the scores, as Nagasu's TES was within a point of Edmunds. Nagasu has some qualities both the judges and the audience appreciate which you overlook.

I agree with you that Edmunds PCS will go up with exposure to international judges, but that won't necessarily help her in Sochi. She is likely to be unfairly lowballed, as a new senior skater, in the Olympics. If she does well in Sochi, her PCS at worlds will likely go up, not for her performance at worlds, but for the performance she did in Sochi. That is the a flaw in PCS as it is praticed by judges, it is a lagging indicator of skating skills, it holds down new skaters who perform well, and holds up veteran skaters who perform poorly.

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I think the point is that judges at Nationals overlooked some TES (namely UR) that they won't internationally. Polina's TES scores were pretty comparable to her international scores.

flutzy13 said:

This is very harsh but I agree that she could have waited until the end of the competitive season to make any longer statement than the brief one she gave from Boston. Especially given the focus on the future nature of the statement. Put that out when this chapter is fully closed as a new quad is beginning. Dredging up the whole thing now when Ashley is trying to leave for Sochi and put Boston out of her head just feels kind of thoughtless. And like I said before will win her no points with USFS

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The general public has no clue that Mirai has made a statement--or who Mirai even is, probably. Now is as good a time as any for her to make a statement for her fans and for the skating ubers. I, for one, am pleased to know that she will continue skating.

flutzy13 said:

This is very harsh but I agree that she could have waited until the end of the competitive season to make any longer statement than the brief one she gave from Boston. Especially given the focus on the future nature of the statement. Put that out when this chapter is fully closed as a new quad is beginning. Dredging up the whole thing now when Ashley is trying to leave for Sochi and put Boston out of her head just feels kind of thoughtless. And like I said before will win her no points with USFS

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As discussed above more than once, Mirai's support for Wagner, Edmunds, and Gold in Sochi -- and for all the Team USA skaters at the Games -- is an important part of her statement.

NOW obviously is the time to express her support for the Olympians. Not the end of the season.

Slowdive said:

Mirai needs to get over herself and stop being such an attention *****.

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Very inappropriate.

Slowdive said:

Mirai needs to get over herself and stop being such an attention *****.

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Not cool. Not at all.

Sweet Jesus on a Stick, people, have a sense of humor.
I personally like Mirai's skating.
However her showing at 4CC clearly shows that it's best she stays off the US Olympic team.
Sorry if I offended folks.