Advertisement

Practice doesn’t make perfect for Mirai Nagasu

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Everett, Wash. -- Defending U.S. figure skating champion Mirai Nagasu of Arcadia will make her senior-level international debut at Skate America despite a tender right ankle, her coach, Charlene Wong, said after the women practiced Friday at Comcast Arena.

The women’s competition will begin Saturday. In Friday’s practice, Nagasu performed her long program but left out several jumps. Wong said that was by design.

Advertisement

‘She’s dealing a little bit with an injury that has actually plagued her for quite some time,’ Wong said. ‘There’s progress being made, though. She and her parents chose, based on the information they received from the doctors, she chose to do kind of like the swimmers do. When swimmers get an injury, they stay in the water as much as possible. She chose to stay on the ice as much as possible and just abstain from the moves that would aggravate her ankle.

‘In the last two or three days, it hasn’t really been bothering her that much. I’m happy about that. I’m happy for her because she can skate with a sense of fearlessness.’

Wong also said Nagasu is adjusting well to a growth spurt -- she’s 5-foot-3 -- and a newly mature body.

‘She definitely grew, and she filled out,’ Wong said. ‘I’m so excited that she grew. I’m so excited that she’s filling out. Personally I don’ t really like to see little girls competing against young women, and Mirai now can hold her own physically and also in her emotional production with some of those more sophisticated athletes that we’ve been seeing the past couple of years.’

--Helene Elliott

Advertisement