Arcadia’s Mirai Nagasu is going to the Olympics in Vancouver next month. The 16-year-old skated a clean and dynamic final program Saturday night to earn second place at the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash.
Mirai Nagasu of Arcadia earned a spot on next month's Winter Olympics figure skating team after a crowd-pleasing final program on Saturday at U.S. Nationals in Spokane. Photo courtesy of NBColympics.com/Getty Images.
As she did in the short program Thursday when finished in first place, Mirai skated nearly flawlessly but finished second due to judges’ downgrades on two of her jumps.
Rachel Flatt’s jump-filled performance pushed her 11 points ahead of Mirai to become the U.S. National Ladies Gold Medal Figure Skating Champion, a title 16-year-old Mirai won two years ago while a freshman at Arcadia High School.
Mirai spins and bends with grace and confidence in the final program to win a spot on the 2010 Winter Olympics team. Photo courtesy of NBColympics.com/Getty Images.
Three daily practices six days a week forced Mirai to leave classes at Arcadia High School recently and take online courses in between her practices in El Segundo.
Now she will be going to the Olympics next month in Vancouver.
– by Scott Hettrick
Here are recent articles you can read about Mirai heading into this week’s Nationals and coverage of the short program and Saturday night’s finale.
* NBColympics.com * ESPN * Seattle Times * Los Angeles Times (Thursday night) * Los Angeles Times * Orange County Register * IceNetwork.com
NBC will show a two-hour recap of the figure skating championships at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24.