Updated results below… Arcadia High School junior Mirai Nagasu, the national U.S. Ladies Figure skating champion of 2008, will compete this week at Skate Canada, some of which will be televised during a 2-hour program on Sunday.
Mirai Nagasu of Arcadia, 2008 National Ladies Figure Skating gold-medal champion.
This is a very important event as the competitors head to the Olympics in February in Vancouver. Only two of at least five or six very talented skaters will be chosen to represent the U.S. team immediately following the U.S. Nationals in January in Seattle.
No matter how it turns out, Mirai is a very lovely young lady whose classmates, teachers and principals at AHS and Foothills Middle School say she has always been a pleasure as a student. The daughter of the owner of the Japanes restaurant Kiyosuzu on Baldwin Avenue is also a delightful resident of Arcadia, as you will see in the following videos.
Update at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20: Mirai finished third in the short program Friday and fourth overall after the free skate Sunday, behind only one other American — Alissa Czisny — and well ahead of her next closest U.S. competitor at this event, Caroline Zhang. Only American Ashely Wagner earned enough points during the ISU competitions this season to represent the U.S. as one of the six qualifiers in the ISU Grand Prix Final the first weekend of December in Japan. Next stop for Mirai: U.S. nationals in January, where she will compete against a handful of others for two spots on the U.S. Olympic team in February 2010.
(Story continues below the following two videos…)
Video below: Mirai on April 17, 2007 when she attended Foothills Middle School and was the National U.S. Junior Ladies Champion and World Junior Ladies Silver Medalist:
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Video below: Mirai in winter 2008 receiving recognition from the Arcadia Board of Education for winning the National U.S. Ladies Championship:
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Mirai is one of the handful of skaters vying for an Olympic berth. She won the women’s short program last month at Cup of China but wound up fifth overall after the long program.
Mirai Nagasu
Among her competitors this week at the ISU’s (International Skating Union) Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ontario will be Canada’s five-time ladies champion and current World silver medalist Joannie Rochette, as well as current U.S. national champion Alissa Czisny, and fellow Southern Californian Caroline Zhang of Orange County.
NBC (channel 4) will broadcast the women’s final live at 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22. Earlier rounds of competition and repeats of the Ladies Final will be shown on the Universal Sports Network (USN – available on digital channel 4.4 with an over-the-air antenna) at the following times Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, according to the USN website.
Friday, Nov. 20 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.: Short Program – Ladies and Pairs” 9 p.m.: Short Program – Ladies and Pairs” (repeat)
Saturday, Nov. 21 8 a.m.: Short Program – Ladies and Pairs” (repeat)
Sunday, Nov. 22 1 p.m.: Ladies Free (repeat) 5 p.m.: Ladies Free (repeat)