The Shibutanis' "Smile" long program in their debut season as seniors. Effortless. Silver medalists behind Jewish-American pair White and Davis (silver medalists themselves in Beijing and last year's world champions), Pundits are all ready predicting an Olympic medal for the Japanese teen siblings.
As much as I respect her coach Frank Carroll (who instilled and maintained sound technique during her growth spurt) and his legacy, Mirai may be better off under World Champion Yuka Sato's keen eye, who can nurture a competitive metal and razor sharp focus for the flighty and emotional teenager, in her current incarnation. Training alongside national champions, Jeremy Abbott and Alissa Czisny won't hurt either. I think Yuka and Dungeon are developing a reputation for molding fragile headcases into zen champions.
Also, considering her long program was set to Japanese music to boot, the decision by the U.S. committee to leave Mirai off the team was unwise and will likely leave America with only two spots available for the next Olympic Games, instead of three, since American ladies have skated poorly since the retirement of Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen, besides Japanese, Chinese, and Korean skaters having dominated international competitions in their absence.
On a related note, Japanese figure skater, Beijing Olympian and former national champion, Mirai Nagasu lead the Asian Invasion in the ladies event, placing third, just missing qualifying for the world championships, in her family's nation of origin of Japan, interestingly enough. Seven, arguably eight (if you consider Yasmin's family origin of Iran — a nation technically a part of Near Asia or Central Asia of the Middle East — an extention of the Far East of Asia) of the top twelve ladies were of Asian extraction.
As much as I respect her coach Frank Carroll (who instilled and maintained sound technique during her growth spurt) and his legacy, Mirai may be better off under World Champion Yuka Sato's keen eye, who can nurture a competitive metal and razor sharp focus for the flighty and emotional teenager, in her current incarnation. Training alongside national champions, Jeremy Abbott and Alissa Czisny won't hurt either. I think Yuka and Dungeon are developing a reputation for molding fragile headcases into zen champions.
Also, considering her long program was set to Japanese music to boot, the decision by the U.S. committee to leave Mirai off the team was unwise and will likely leave America with only two spots available for the next Olympic Games, instead of three, since American ladies have skated poorly since the retirement of Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen, besides Japanese, Chinese, and Korean skaters having dominated international competitions in their absence.
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