Mirai Nagasu's future prospects

[chuckm]

Mirai is slow and there's not much lift in her jumps, that's why she looks sluggish, and that's also why she URs her jumps. When you compare Courtney Hicks and Mirai, the difference in speed is so obvious.

 

[jenaj]

Not quite sure what constitutes a career, but Alissa Czisny might qualify. And Ryan Bradley.

Yes. Ryan Bradley knew that when he won Nationals, he would have a career in show skating. There are other examples as well.

 

[karlowens2]

You need to take into account that she hasn't been with Tom Z for long. It's only a couple of months. Despite her mistakes I could see a lot of improvement in her skating. And despite mistakes in the long she still finished 3rd in that portion. If she landed the 3F/3T in the short this would be a different story. Jumps look like they were reworked, especially the flip and she is adding the triple sal. She looks to be in better shape at this point in the season that she has in the past. She stated after her long that she held back and was working on fixing that.

She went through the ringer last season and I would even say the season before that. Her mental game isn't going to change over night. I think her and Tom are working on that, he's getting her out there more, she competed at Broadmore, SLC, she's going to Japan Open. This is going to be a process and we will have to wait and see.

Thanks for balanced observation. We're so impatient with our skaters. Nagasu came on the scene very young. Naturally she must rework technique and develop. Look at what Kostner went through to finally arrive. Even Mao had to rework technique after Vancouver. I think I read Fernandez went to worlds 7 times before medaling. Something is keeping Marai in it. Here's to a good season.

 

[tulosai]

Which national champions that haven't won a World or Olympic medal have a career in show skating?

Some examples have already been given so I won't belabor the point, but I do want to say as one other person said, the be all end all of show skating is not currently in the USA- it is in Japan and Asia generally, and Mirai is popular there- very much so in fact. The Japanese seem to have their own 'favorites' that are not really very dependent on or linked to results. So long as Mirai doesn't mind being in Japan for long stretches at a time she could certainly make some nice income there doing shows for at least part of the year, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[LRK]

Tomas Verner? True, he has Euros' medals, including a title, but the criteria was national champion without Worlds' or Olympic medals.

 

[Mrs. P]

Some examples have already been given so I won't belabor the point, but I do want to say as one other person said, the be all end all of show skating is not currently in the USA- it is in Japan and Asia generally, and Mirai is popular there- very much so in fact. The Japanese seem to have their own 'favorites' that are not really very dependent on or linked to results. So long as Mirai doesn't mind being in Japan for long stretches at a time she could certainly make some nice income there doing shows for at least part of the year, at least for the foreseeable future.

Along with Japan, there are also a few shows in China as well.

And there are quite a few in Europe. Rohene Ward spent much of his time in Europe doing ice shows when he wasn't doing coaching/choreography in the U.S.

And even in the U.S. there are opportunities: Disney on Ice, the cruise ship circuit, Pandora/Disson series.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evevNo7w5UI&t=23m15s
Her double axel here is ENORMOUS. She might be able to do that 3A!

I'm sure her 2F and 2Lz are big too, but she still sometimes underotates the triple versions.

 

[Rami]

Tomas Verner? True, he has Euros' medals, including a title, but the criteria was national champion without Worlds' or Olympic medals.[/Q]

Also Kiira Korpi.

I wish Mirai would sell her programs better and really commit to the choreography. The programs don't have to be perfect at September but commitment to the choreography would make wonders to the overall perception of her programs.

 

[mirai4life]

Mirai is never done. I think "inconsistent" is the right word.
It has been the story of Mirai all her life. She's capable of being TOTALLY TERRIBLE to medaling in GP and Nationals

 

[mirai4life]

I am glad to hear that Tom Dickson is by Mirai's side. I love Tom Dickson's work for Adam. and Please watch Mirai's LP at Broadmoor open, she had sparks there....

I know! I can't @ people coming for Adam's programs. These programs are her best in YEARS!

 

[mirai4life]

Mirai should put her money into going to College and getting a good education. Why does she keep doing something she obviously does not enjoy.

She said she isn't ready to give up skating. Truly, it's her passion....
She's just not expressive on ice. Plus, not everyone can win and get #1. There are always skaters who just can't do their best when it counts.

 

[mskater93]

The problem with that is inconsistency keeps you out of worlds/Olympics. If I were on a committee that chooses who represents my country at the big ones, I'd rather pick 2 or 3 skaters who could finish 3rd-8th depending on factors like how others skate than someone who could be any where from 1st to 20th depending on how the skate. My chances of success (three spots for the following season) are higher with three skaters who probably can't win unless an incredibly unlikely scenario happens than taking a chance that lightening in a bottle would have to happen to have that one rare talent put it together that one time...

 

[IcyEdges]

Do you know how hard it is to do your OWN choreography? I find it much more difficult to do my own choreo than to choreo for someone else, and I am really a "recreational" skater (ie competitive adult). One thing is when you do your own choreography, you try to stay within your comfort zone in terms of elements/transitions/set ups and a lot of times just don't challenge yourself. Also, when you are doing choreo for someone else, you get a better idea of what it looks like watching them "regurgitate" it back to you after you show them and you start adjusting it where it's not what you thought it would look like. When you are doing your own choreography, you don't really know what it looks like until you get that feedback from the judges. It's the same as teaching yourself how to skate/jump/spin. You don't really want to do that, either (as Kwan found out in 2001-2).

I don't know for certain whether this is a bad fit of programs for Nagasu or whether she just skated them in a "meh"-interpretation kind of way. I think we'll get a better idea once we see Wagner's programs what kind of chroeographer Adam really is as Wagner (IMO) does a much better job of selling programs and committing to choreography over the last several seasons.

Yes I do know what it's like to choreograph your own programs as I did so towards the end of my Senior skating career and I did stretch my boundries. Jeremy Abbott has successfully done the same thing, among others. Different strokes for different folks apparently.

Also, we won't truly know about Adam's success in choreography unless like I said you look back at the few exhibition programs he put together for others Ashley's "Young and Beautiful" and Mirai's "On Golden Pond" both of which I thought were lovely. Ashley has stated that he drove her nuts and she brought in Cindy Stuart. She also worked with Shae-Lynn Bourne.

 

[Ruffles78]

I'm working on getting you guys Broadmoor Open links. The quality is not the best, but I did what I could.

I think the programs were changed recently, probably due to feedback from champs camp...if that's the case, she should just ignore them. It's probably a conspiracy to keep her from winning! lol. The new choreography didn't seem gelled, but it will improve with time. It's September for crying out loud. I just hope she gets comfortable and starts attacking everything. Her conditioning looks good, and I did see an improvement in her successful triples. The triple/triples in warm up looked awesome. If she can skate like she did at Broadmoor Open, with fully rotated triples, she will be on the national podium, and could potentially win...especially if she gets that 3f/3t. Everyone who's knocking Adam can stick a sock in it. The changes to her program look new, and she's probably still having to think a lot through her movement. I just hope they take out that dang illusion thing in the SP, and put back in some of the fire and speed to the beginning of her footwork sections.

 

[karne]

I think the programs were changed recently, probably due to feedback from champs camp...if that's the case, she should just ignore them. It's probably a conspiracy to keep her from winning!

I was wondering how long it would take before this became the big bad evil USFSA's fault.

FTR, at Champs Camp last year, they told Jason to get rid of Riverdance. Was that a big evil conspiracy to stop him beating their precious Jeremy?

 

[MK's Winter]

I was wondering how long it would take before this became the big bad evil USFSA's fault. FTR, at Champs Camp last year, they told Jason to get rid of Riverdance. Was that a big evil conspiracy to stop him beating their precious Jeremy?

So what if she changed her programs a bit from Champs Camp feedback? No one said it was the USFSA's fault. She probably getting used to the programs and thinking her way though them. It's September. My goodness.

 

[MK's Winter]

Thanks for balanced observation. We're so impatient with our skaters. Nagasu came on the scene very young. Naturally she must rework technique and develop. Look at what Kostner went through to finally arrive. Even Mao had to rework technique after Vancouver. I think I read Fernandez went to worlds 7 times before medaling. Something is keeping Marai in it. Here's to a good season.

That's my mind frame for it. It's early in the season. People sailed her down the river after Finlandia and NHK last year..... You can never count this girl out.

 

[karne]

So what if she changed her programs a bit from Champs Camp feedback? No one said it was the USFSA's fault. She probably getting used to the programs and thinking her way though them. It's September. My goodness.

The post I quoted directly suggested that any change at champs camp would be a conspiracy to keep her from winning.

I know it is September. I spend the whole month laughing my head off at the people pressing panic buttons.

 

[StitchMonkey]

I was wondering how long it would take before this became the big bad evil USFSA's fault.

FTR, at Champs Camp last year, they told Jason to get rid of Riverdance. Was that a big evil conspiracy to stop him beating their precious Jeremy?

No, but it could used as an argument that they don't always see the big picture of programs or remember that they are seeing a preview. His team took the feedback with a grain of salt and worried more about what worked for him.

Mirai does not have the type of support team that Jason does in Kori and Rohene. That is not a dig at team Mirai, just a reality. She and Tom Z are a new paring and can not be expect to have the same connection as Kori and Jason.

Tom Z. . . well he certainly seems interesting. I get the impression that if USFSA told him a program needs more technical difficulty, he may start trying to add a new jumping pass to the program and forget the Zayak rule. . . then have to be reminded of it daily until the program is refined. He may take their words very literally to heart, take a suggestion as a command. The fact that he trains out of Colorado Springs, and is thus more likely to cross paths with the powers that be, might lead to him having a different relationship with them.

 

[karne]

I get the impression that is USFSA told him a program needs more technical difficulty,

And they would be right, but the way to do that would be to stop the under-rotations. And given that's a very chronic problem for her, it won't happen overnight.