Sports|Mirai Nagasu Lands Triple Axel, a First by an American Woman at an Olympics
Advertisem*nt
SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Supported by
SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT
When she was passed over for an Olympic spot in 2014, Mirai Nagasu considered giving up figure skating. Instead, she used the snub as motivation.
It’s a good thing she stuck with it. On Sunday, Nagasu, 24, became the first American woman to land a triple axel during the Olympics, helping lift the United States team to a bronze medal in team competition.
“This is definitely history, or herstory, whatever way you want to put it,” she said after her performance at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.
"HOLY COW!" You just witnessed a historic triple axel from Mirai Nagasu. #WinterOlympics https://t.co/NsNuy9F46h pic.twitter.com/jCMTb4LtXv
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2018
The triple axel — a jump with three and a half rotations, and the only one with a forward-facing takeoff — is the rarest of feats in figure skating.
Just eight women have successfully landed one in competition, including Tonya Harding at Skate America in 1991, a pivotal moment in the Oscar-nominated biopic “I, Tonya,” about the disgraced two-time Olympian. Though it was Harding’s signature move, she never landed one in the Olympics.
Advertisem*nt
SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT
