Mirai Nagasu

Mirai Nagasu
Nagasu (center) at the 2007-2008 Junior Grand Prix Final
Height	4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)
Figure skating career
Country	United States
Coach	Charlene Wong, Sashi Kuchiki, Sondra Holmes, Bob Paul, Jim Yorke
Skating club	Pasadena FSC

Most Recent Results :
Event	Points	Finish	Year
World Junior Championships	162.89	3rd	2008

Mirai Aileen Nagasu (born April 16, 1993) is an American figure skater. She is the 2007 World Junior silver medalist, 2008 World Junior bronze medalist, and 2008 U.S. national champion & Junior Grand Prix Final Champion.

Personal life

Born in Montebello, California, Nagasu is a second-generation Japanese-American. Because both her parents were born in Japan, Nagasu has dual citizenship with the United States and Japan and will have it until her 21st birthday. She has always competed for the United States.

Nagasu graduated from Foothills Middle School in the spring of 2007 and is entered Arcadia High School in Arcadia, California in the fall of 2007.

Because of her Japanese heritage, Nagasu has received a lot of publicity in Japan. Beginning with her win at 2007 Nationals, Nagasu began to be featured in news stories along with Japanese skaters Mao Asada and Miki Ando, leading to speculation in the Japanese media that Nagasu was being courted by the Japanese Skating Federation to switch countries. In the summer of 2007, Nagasu performed in ice shows in Japan. In the fall of 2007, after her two Junior Grand Prix events, Nagasu took part in the International Counter Match "made for television" event in Japan. There, Nagasu was part of team USA and competed against team Japan. In the promotion and news coverage of the event, Nagasu's presence and participation was given nearly as much coverage as Ando's and Asada's. Even as far into her career as October 2007, after Nagasu had already qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final for the United States, the Japanese media still speculated about her possible choice to switch to skating for Japan.

Career

Nagasu won both her regional and sectional competition to qualify for the 2007 Nationals. Her win at the 2007 Nationals came as a surprise, as she had failed to make it out of regionals, the first qualifying competition for the U.S. Championships, on the novice level the year before, and came in as a complete unknown. She had moved up to Junior for 2006/2007, despite not making it to Nationals as a novice. The 2007 Nationals were was her first time competing at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and she won the junior title over heavy favorite Caroline Zhang.

Nagasu went on to the 2007 World Junior Championships. She did not have a Personal Best on record, so she skated in the first half of the ladies short program. She was ranked second after the short program. She placed second in the free skate as well, placing second overall.

For the 2007/2008 season, Nagasu moved up to the senior level nationally, but remained junior internationally. At the 2007-2008 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Lake Placid, New York, her first Junior Grand Prix competition of her career, she won the gold medal with a 26 point lead over the silver medalist. She won the gold medal in her second event as well, qualifying her for the Junior Grand Prix Final.

At the 2008 Nationals, Nagasu won the short program with a score of 70.23. Nagasu also landed a triple-triple combination (3lutz-3toe) for the first time in competition. She placed third in the free skate but won the title overall with a score of 190.41. She is the first skater since 1928 to win the junior and senior titles back to back in the ladies division.

At the 2008 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, she won the bronze medal.

Programs

Season	Short Program	Long Program	Exhibition
2007-2008	I Got Rhythm by George Gershwin arranged by Fazil Say	Excerpts from Coppelia by Léo Delibes	Don't Stop Me Now By Queen A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes by Circle of Stars
2006-2007	Shout and Feel it (Swing Kids soundtrack) by Benny Goodman	American Quartet by Antonín Dvořák	A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes by Circle of Stars

Competitive highlights

Event	2005-2006	2006-2007	2007-2008
World Junior Championships		2nd	3rd
U.S. Championships		1st J.	1st
Junior Grand Prix Final			1st
Junior Grand Prix, Croatia			1st
Junior Grand Prix, USA			1st
Pacific Coast Sectionals		1st J.
Southwest Pacific Regionals	5th N.	1st J.

• N = Novice level; J = Junior level

External links

• Official site
• Mirai Nagasu at the International Skating Union
• Mirai Nagasu at U.S. Figure Skating (archived)