Mirai Nagasu

I was asking myself the same thing...

Mirai was interviewed by a japanese figure skating magazine ( I think it was last fall ), where she was asked "Did you ever think about representing Japan?", and she answered something along the lines of "Yes. Japanese fans are so supportive. The jackets look cool."
Given this answer, she could be seriously thinking about switching to JSF, or she could be wearing the jacket simply because she likes how it looks.

Does switching to JSF means she has to relinquish her American citizenship? She's going to be 21 soon and she'll have to decide on only one citizenship.

dangerous_angel_face wrote:

Mirai was interviewed by a japanese figure skating magazine ( I think it was last fall ), where she was asked "Did you ever think about representing Japan?", and she answered something along the lines of "Yes. Japanese fans are so supportive. The jackets look cool."
Given this answer, she could be seriously thinking about switching to JSF, or she could be wearing the jacket simply because she likes how it looks.

My question is - why would they give her a jacket if she wasn't switching? I think it's odd. Or does JSF give jackets to other athletes if they participate in THE ICE or something?

pearlyriver wrote:

Does switching to JSF means she has to relinquish her American citizenship? She's going to be 21 soon and she'll have to decide on only one citizenship.

In Japan, I actually believe it's 20. And she literally just turned 20 a week ago. I didn't think about that... this is interesting...

No, it's actually 22. Mirai has dual citizenship currently but will be required to choose one before her 22nd birthday (according to Japanese law).

Also, ISU rules state that she'll have to wait at least a year since the last time she competed for the US at an international competition. I can't remember what else, but it isn't that simple to switch from one federation to another.

With the Olympic season coming up, I think it's unlikely she is going to switch to Japan right now. I'm not even convinced that she can beat Akiko, Kanako, or Mao anyway. Her chances right now are probably better skating for the US.

Okay, here is where the confusion is coming from regarding age! Thanks, Wikipedia!

"They must choose one citizenship/nationality before the age of 22 or within two years if the second citizenship is acquired after the age of 20."

I agree that I think it's not a good idea to switch now. However... the US is not going to send her. They made that pretty clear this year. It's going to be Ashley, Gracie, and someone. Alissa - maybe? Christina - maybe? Agnes - maybe? But Mirai and Caroline are not in that group of maybes. It might be best to just invest these few months in changing technique and go for Japan next year when Akiko retires.

Also, Mirai would be able to compete for Japan about November of this year - that was when her last Grand Prix event was. You're right, it is a year after your last international competition for the country. Mirai didn't do 4CC or worlds or anything else. So, she could compete for the Olympics with Japan. But she likely isn't going to make it with Akiko, Kanako, and Mao. However, if Akiko doesn't do worlds afterwards, she might make it to worlds. We'll see what happens!

While it might be difficult for Mirai to be chosen for Sochi or even 2014 worlds, Mao, Akko and Kanako are all talking about retirement after the Olympic year. So if Mirai wants to continue after Sochi, switching to jsf might be a good choice for her career.

On a side note : while the law in Japan states that you must choose one citizenship at the age of 22, currently there aren't any laws that can force you to give up on a citizenship or penalize you for having dual citizenship. But since Mirai is famous, I guess she really will have to choose.

Alokya wrote:

Also, Mirai would be able to compete for Japan about November of this year - that was when her last Grand Prix event was. You're right, it is a year after your last international competition for the country. Mirai didn't do 4CC or worlds or anything else. So, she could compete for the Olympics with Japan. But she likely isn't going to make it with Akiko, Kanako, and Mao. However, if Akiko doesn't do worlds afterwards, she might make it to worlds. We'll see what happens!

I don't know the procedure can be so fast, but she's very unlikely to beat Mao, Akiko and Kanako. What I find worrying about Mirai is that the spunk is gone. I know she's making a transition from a spunky skater to a mature one, but so far the maturity is not yet to be seen. She often does much better in practice and the nerve often gets the better of her in competition. But whatever she's going to do, I hope it'll be the right direction. She needs someone to tell her how talented she is and believe in herself.

pearlyriver wrote:

Alokya wrote:

Also, Mirai would be able to compete for Japan about November of this year - that was when her last Grand Prix event was. You're right, it is a year after your last international competition for the country. Mirai didn't do 4CC or worlds or anything else. So, she could compete for the Olympics with Japan. But she likely isn't going to make it with Akiko, Kanako, and Mao. However, if Akiko doesn't do worlds afterwards, she might make it to worlds. We'll see what happens!

I don't know the procedure can be so fast, but she's very unlikely to beat Mao, Akiko and Kanako. What I find worrying about Mirai is that the spunk is gone. I know she's making a transition from a spunky skater to a mature one, but so far the maturity is not yet to be seen. She often does much better in practice and the nerve often gets the better of her in competition. But whatever she's going to do, I hope it'll be the right direction. She needs someone to tell her how talented she is and believe in herself.

I am taking that info off of Tatiana Volosozhar's Wikipedia page (I love Wikipedia):

"As per ISU regulations, Volosozhar was obliged to sit out one year from her last event representing Ukraine, the 2010 Winter Olympics [when she was switching to partnering with Maxim Trankov]."

I agree with you. She is lovely and gorgeous... and she just needs to believe in herself, she has so much talent. The rest will follow.

From The Skating Lesson on Twitter:

Quote :

        Mirai Nagasu also skating at Toyota and worked on a promising (but underrotated) triple axel.

I think that Mirai will give it everything she's got to try and make the Olympic team again, and she probably realizes that she might need something like a triple axel just to stand out from the pack again, in spite of her underrotaion problems. I wish her the best of luck.

^Please tell me she's back with Frank! I honestly think he's the only one who can bring her back to the 2009/2010 form, that is, as long as she works hard...

The news about 3A is great, but like Mao she really needs to work on her UR's issues and a 3-3. Mao is often saved by her fantastic overall skating, Mirai isn't there yet. when she makes a mistake her entire program goes down the drain.


Come on Mirai, work your butt off this season and kick  Ashley's and Gracie's booty. we all know you're capable of this! I wanna see you in Sochi!

Quote :

Please tell me she's back with Frank! I honestly think he's the only one who can bring her back to the 2009/2010 form, that is, as long as she works hard...

Mirai is still with the same coaches she worked with last season, but I think with Mirai, when she's not 100% mentally all there and not focused and passionate, it won't matter what coach she's with, sadly.  But if she is motivated and determined again, she can definitely make the team in spite of all the odds.

Yes, she can definitely beat Zawadzki and Gao is she works hard and skates well, even with a couple of UR jumps! What she needs is a stable 3-3 in the SP and good GOEs in the ratified jumps...

ElleluvsL wrote:

Mirai is still with the same coaches she worked with last season, but I think with Mirai, when she's not 100% mentally all there and not focused and passionate, it won't matter what coach she's with, sadly.  But if she is motivated and determined again, she can definitely make the team in spite of all the odds.

And this is what makes me so mad. She could've made it to the top, she's got the goods, she's proven this in Vancouver and at 2010 Worlds SP. But her work ethics are not good, and without these you can never make it far in a sport where ALL of the top skaters are working their butts off almost 24/7.

Mao2012 wrote:

Yes, she can definitely beat Zawadzki and Gao is she works hard and skates well, even with a couple of UR jumps! What she needs is a stable 3-3 in the SP and good GOEs in the ratified jumps...

And she also needs to learn to NOT give up in the middle of the program after she made a mistake, but fight through until the end.

She reminds me of a russian artistic gymnast Viktoria Komova. She's insanely talented but whenever she makes a mistake, she literally just gives up, like "OK this is it, I made a mistake, why bother continuing to fight". :livid:It really, really makes me mad.

I also wonder if Frank would even be  willing to take her back. He has never hidden a fact that he found her  exasperating... Such a shame that her career has turned out this way.

I think USFS will push Alissa for the third spot on the Olympic team. I have a feeling I'm going to be majorly pissed at Us Nats result.

I think Mirai has better results from international judges than from the USFS. Hopefully she'll capitalize on that, do her best in each GP event she's in so as to improve USFS opinion of her in time for nationals. This girl has it. Too bad she's been struggling recently, too.

roma wrote:

I think Mirai has better results from international judges than from the USFS. Hopefully she'll capitalize on that, do her best in each GP event she's in so as to improve USFS opinion of her in time for nationals. This girl has it. Too bad she's been struggling recently, too.

I'm afraid that unless she's has a GP season of her life (medals at both gp's and preferably GPF) the USFS is going to drop her big time. Like I said, I think their Sochi team is Gracie, Ashley, Alisa/Agnes,Christina. I don't see Mirai in this equation. Look what they did to her in January, did she really deserve to be in 7th place?! Heck no! I don't get them, why do they "hate" her so, yet they're willing to give Alisa another chance over and over again. I mean Alisa does not have good jumps, she's pretty, she spins fast (it would be nice though,  if she changed some of her spins every once in a while) and her programs are always the same "look at me arent't I pretty".
And why are they pushing Agnes is beyond me, international judges do not like her, so stop overscoring her at nats.

If Mirai can't make it, and I'm afraid she won't since she doesn't have  powerful coaches and her Fed seems to hate her:livid:, I hope Christina is going to grab that third spot. The only way I want to see Alissa on that team is IF she trully deserves it.

Don't forget alissa atleast has one big title her Granprix final title from 2011,while Mirai doesn't have one. but then again Mirai has managed to medal in 4c and the Granprix circuit after 2011. as talented as Mirai is, and as much as i prefer Mirai to alissa, I also think she has toi skate lights out to make the team. after all we saw what happened last year with a decent skate from her. I agree about agnes have no idea why they keep overscoring her, I personally hope that if Mirai doesn't make the team that christina get's it!

zarinaballerina wrote:

And this is what makes me so mad. She could've made it to the top, she's got the goods, she's proven this in Vancouver and at 2010 Worlds SP. But her work ethics are not good, and without these you can never make it far in a sport where ALL of the top skaters are working their butts off almost 24/7.

And she also needs to learn to NOT give up in the middle of the program after she made a mistake, but fight through until the end.

She reminds me of a russian artistic gymnast Viktoria Komova. She's insanely talented but whenever she makes a mistake, she literally just gives up, like "OK this is it, I made a mistake, why bother continuing to fight". :livid:It really, really makes me mad.

I also wonder if Frank would even be  willing to take her back. He has never hidden a fact that he found her  exasperating... Such a shame that her career has turned out this way.

I think USFS will push Alissa for the third spot on the Olympic team. I have a feeling I'm going to be majorly pissed at Us Nats result.

What's not good about her work ethics? I dont' follow her frequently, but I have the feeling that she's not as hardworking and dedicated as other skaters. She's amazingly talented, but she lacks certain traits to become the top skater IMHO.
What really happened between her and Frank? The reason for their split is that his training centre is too far away from her house, but I think there must be more to that. She's 20 years old and she can certainly move there if she really wants to try. I think she makes a huge mistake of parting with Frank.

pearlyriver wrote:

What's not good about her work ethics? I dont' follow her frequently, but I have the feeling that she's not as hardworking and dedicated as other skaters. She's amazingly talented, but she lacks certain traits to become the top skater IMHO.
What really happened between her and Frank? The reason for their split is that his training centre is too far away from her house, but I think there must be more to that. She's 20 years old and she can certainly move there if she really wants to try. I think she makes a huge mistake of parting with Frank.

I think you stated the reason for her split with Frank in the first line of your post. We can't know for sure, because neither Frank nor Mirai are saying much about it, however it's no secret that Frank can't stand slackers, so he tends to fire those who can't commit to working hard. IMO, I think Frank fired Mirai after she and/or her mother refused for Miari to move to Palm Springs. According to Frank, he arranged a FREE living for Mirai with a local family, but her mom said no. Even in their first year together 2009/10 season, she had issues with working hard, even Evan had said that he had to push her to train. It's such a shame, because not only could she be a top American lady, she could've also fought for a world podium/title.

I also wonder if this is the reason she's not working with Rafael. She said she's enjoying it (she trained at Lake Arrowhead a few times last season), but Rafa is also known to push his students very hard... I hope she's learned her lesson and will train like mad this season. I want to see her on the Sochi team so badly, but I'm afraid it'll take a miracle for her to be put on the team.