It’s Showtime
Mirai Nagasu said she likes to have fun, all the time, if she can.
She certainly did that Sunday night as the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships officially got underway in Spokane before a crowd of 6,865.
“I just wanted to have fun out on the ice, perform for the audience, and hope they like it,” said Nagasu, a 4-foot-7 skater who is appearing at her first nationals.
The Spokane crowd was indeed appreciative of her efforts and Nagasu came away with the biggest smile of the night. She leads the Junior Ladies competition after the short program.
The performance put Nagasu, 13, slightly ahead of fellow southern Californian and 13-year-old Caroline Zhang – by a margin of 54.26 to 53.87. They enter Tuesday night’s free skate ahead of Blake Rosenthal (51.67) and Ashley Wagner (51.20).
Nagasu, skating to an upbeat song from the “Swing Kids” soundtrack, had to fight through the finish on her first jump but got stronger as she finished out her energetic program and received a loud ovation. It wasn’t apparent she had the jitters.
“I was nervous, but I turned my energy into gasoline to get me going,” said Nagasu.
A fall on a double axel cost Zhang first place, but she said she still feels confident with the scoring so tight.
“I kind of landed it, but then just fell forward,” said Zhang, who said she’s never fallen in competition before. “It’s OK, because it’s just the short program.”
Zhang landed her first two jumps and nearly had her third landed when she couldn’t hold an edge and fell to the ice.
She picked herself up and finished the program strongly to a loud round of applause. Her mark gave her a slight lead over Wagner at the time but Nagasu was still to come in the final grouping.
Rosenthal, second in novice at the 2006 nationals, skated a clean, elegant program. She said she definitely noticed the difference in competitive levels.
“It’s really hard, everyone is so good,” she said. “But it really makes it exciting to watch them. It’s good competition.”
Wagner, who was fourth in the junior event at the 2006 nationals, skated a clean program but wobbled slightly on a couple of her landings.
Regardless, she was clearly happy with her performance and pumped her fist at the middle of the ice before skating off.
All of them are in a solid position to capture the title. It will come down to who is best on Tuesday.
Novice results
Preliminaries in the Novice division of the four disciplines, each with 12 entrants, played around before a capacity crowd of 4,000 throughout the day at the Spokane Convention Center. The finals are today at the Arena.
Dance: Sara Bailey, 16, from Fall River, Mass., and Kyle Herring, 17, from Fairfax, Va., have a slight lead over the sister and brother team of Maia,12, and Alex, 15, Shibutani of Colorado Springs after two compulsory dances. The free dance finals begin at 9:30 p.m.
Pairs: Tracy Tanovich, 10, and Michael Chau, 16, skating out of Ellenton, Fla., have almost a three-point leader over Jayln Kelly, 12, and Gabe Woodruff, 23, from Michigan after the short program. The free skate finals start at 12:30.
Ladies: Carolyn-Ann Alba, 13, out of Anaheim, scored 45.04 to lead after the short program. Angela Maxwell, 14, from Dallas, is second at 43.33. The free skate finals begin at 7:20 p.m.
Men: Armin Mahbanoozadeh, 15, of Fairfax, Va., was leading after the short program. Scott Dyer, 15, of Baltimore, was second. The free skate finals are at 3 p.m.