GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — No tricks, no potions. Just Mirai Nagasu being her usual enchanting self.
The
2008 champion edged out fellow previous winners Alissa Czisny of Bowling Green and
Rachael Flatt in the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating
Championships on Thursday night with a beguiling routine to "Witches of
Eastwick."
But with the margin between the three so small — just
1.03 points, to be exact— and only two spots on the world team
available, Saturday night’s free skate should be quite the show.
"Being the best in the country, it’s like a label and it’s one that I want," Nagasu said.
Nagasu scored 63.35 points while Czisny, the 2009 champ, had 62.50 points. Flatt, the defending champion,
scored 62.32.
Nagasu
was fourth at the Vancouver Olympics, and her lyrical style,
expressiveness and charming personality made many think she was on the
verge of becoming figure skating’s next big star. But the 17-year-old
doesn’t have quite the confidence in herself others do, and those doubts
tend to come out at the most inopportune times.
She led the world
championships after the short program, but came apart in the free skate
and dropped to seventh. A stress fracture that kept her off the ice for
two months this summer got her down and made for a rough start of the
year. As recently as Tuesday, her emotions were still so jumbled that
coach Frank Carroll had to give her another lecture.
"I’ve been
competing like a chicken all year," Nagasu said. "But I’ve been working
my butt off. … I hope I can show the judges I can represent the USA
well."
This was a good start.
Nagasu has the athletic tricks
to stand up to any of the top women in the world. Her triple
lutz-double toe loop combination was seamless, and she flew across the
rink at such high speed she’s lucky she didn’t get pulled over. She
punctuated the landing of her double axel with a little hand flourish as
if to say, "Go ahead, see if you can top this."
"I have to do the jumps anyway," she said, "so why not go ahead and land them?"
And her spins were so tightly centered she would have drilled through the ice if she’d gone any longer.

But
what sets Nagasu apart — as it does all the best skaters — is the show
she puts on. Irrepressible and charming off the ice, she finds a way to
carry that personality over to her programs. She would have made
Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and Cher proud with how well she
stayed in character throughout the program, giving an evil little grin
at one point as she pantomimed making a wicked brew in a bubbling
cauldron.
Unlike other skaters, whose programs would look the same
whether they were skating to Beethoven or the Beastie Boys, her music
is almost an extension of her. Or maybe she’s an extension of it. Either
way, no note goes unacknowledged.
When her score was posted and Nagasu saw she was in first place, she beamed and flashed a double
thumbs-up to the camera.
"A
lot of people still expected a lot of me, even though I hadn’t skated
in a while," Nagasu said. "All the best skaters can step up their game,
and I’m learning how to do that."
So is Czisny.
Czisny has
long had a problem getting her psyche to match her skill and elegance.
After winning the national title in 2009, she bombed at the world
championships in Los Angeles, costing the Americans the third spot at
the Vancouver Olympics. Looking to redeem herself at last year’s
national championships, she was out of the running before the short
program even finished.
"It was such a heartbreak for me to end like that," Czisny said. "Brian Boitano told me,
never leave with any regrets."
Czisny
left longtime coach Julie Berlin to train with former world champion
Yuka Sato and her husband, Jason Dungjen, and the transformation has
been remarkable. She won the Grand Prix final, the first American to do
so since Sasha Cohen in 2002, and came to Greensboro with an air of
confidence never seen before.
Not at nationals, at least.
Her
program, to a piano concerto, showcased the feather soft quality of her
skating. She landed her opening triple lutz-double toe loop combination
with ease and certainty, and then breezed through the rest of her
program.
"It’s hard to say what I’m thinking differently, because I
feel like everything’s different," Czisny said. "This whole Grand Prix
season has given me more confidence to go out there and know I can do
the job when I have to."
Flatt was troubled by an injury for much
of the Grand Prix season and, after finishing dead last at the Grand
Prix final, she made a bold move: She got a new short program to "East
of Eden." That’s the same music as one of Michelle Kwan’s signature
programs, and there’s always the risk of suffering in comparison. (It’s
like doing "Bolero" or "Carmen." You don’t mess with the original.)
Flatt, however, made it work.
"Going
up to Toronto and working with Lori Nichol on this new short program
really helped me get through" the turbulent, early part of the season,
Flatt said. "The music is so inspiring. It’s just a wonderful piece of
music and it kind of helped me find that emotional connection to skating
again."
The second half of the program is high-energy, and Flatt
couldn’t help but beam as she flew across the ice with speed she’s never
shown before. All of her jumps were solid, too. But when there are
three national champions in the field, every little bit counts, and
Flatt’s spins aren’t in the same category as Nagasu’s or Czisny’s.