ST. PAUL, Minn. — Fourteen-year-old Mirai Nagasu delighted the crowd — and herself — with a refreshing and entertaining show at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Jan. 26, becoming the second-youngest woman and the youngest Asian American woman to win the U.S. title.
When her scores flashed, Nagasu looked at the screen with curiosity. When she heard she’d won, she said, “What?” then clapped her hands to her face and broke into a grin.
“I am very excited and speechless,” Nagasu said.
In winning her first national title, Nagasu joins noteworthy figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi, who won the same title in 1992, and Michelle Kwan, who won the championship in 1996 and then eight years in a row from 1998 to 2000.
Nagasu is too young to go to the world championships in March; skaters now must be 15 by the previous July 1, and she won’t even turn 15 until April. Rachael Flatt, who finished second, missed the cutoff by three weeks and will have to sit worlds out, too. Ashley Wagner finished third, and she is eligible for worlds.
Figure skating has been in the doldrums the last few years, searching for a new star ever since Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen decided to try new things. Nagasu appears to fill that bill: She’s a breath of fresh air, playing on her youth and size — she’s 4-foot-11 — instead of trying to be something she’s not. Skating to “Coppelia,” the story of a doll that comes to life, she was absolutely charming.
She fell on her opening jump, a double axel, but she very quickly regrouped.
“The fall on the double axel was like a kick in the butt,” she said. “After that, I was like, ‘Attack!’”
Fully alive, she danced across the ice with light and airy footwork. She landed six triple jumps, three in combination, and showed great stamina by picking up speed as the program went along.
Perhaps most impressive is that this is the first time Nagasu has competed a 4-minute program. She spent the fall on the junior international circuit, where she only had to do a 3.5-minute routine.
Nagasu is the youngest women’s victor since Tara Lipinski in 1997.
With contributions from the Associated Press