DETROIT – The United States Figure Skating Championships are next week, and for the first time since 1994 they will be held in Detroit.
One of the darlings of the 2018 Winter Olympics will be missing from the competition. Local 4's Jamie Edmonds sat down with Mirai Nagasu to find out why.
For the first time in 11 years Nagasu will not compete. She was the first woman to land a triple axel at an Olympic competition.
"I landed it so many times in practice. But to land it in competition, it is something I will remember forever," Nagasu said.
She landed what some call the hardest jump in figure skating. The jump takes off facing forward and is 3.5 turns, and even for Nagasu practicing the jump means falling a lot.
"I tore my labrum," she said. "I had bone fragments floating in my hip."
That injury sidelined Nagasu this season, but that doesn't mean she's going to hang up her skates anytime soon. Nagasu coaches and mentors other skaters often. Recently, she surprised young skaters at Campus Martius Park.
Nagasu said it will be bittersweet to simply watch the competition, but she's excited. She said it's a treat to have this level of skating in town and encouraged everyone to come out and see it for themselves.
"A lot of people think figure skating is a lot of sparkles and glitter, which it is, but it is also very athletic," she said.
National championship winners will be crowned in ladies, men, pairs and ice dancing.