24-Year-Old American Figure Skater Becomes The First American, Third Overall, Female Skater To Land A Triple Axel In The Winter Olympics 2018; Flawless Performance Earns A Standing Ovation
- Californian figure skater Mirai Nagasu has given a flawless performance at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
- With the performance, Nagasu becomes the first American woman to land a triple axel.
- Nagasu skated first of the five women and kept her team ahead in the bronze medal battle with the triple axel just 21 seconds in.
Figure Skater Mirai Nagasu has set the record for the first American woman to land a triple axel at the Olympics, and the third overall, on Monday, 12th Feb.
Check out the clip of Mirai Nagasu creating history as the first American to land a triple axel at the Olympics!
Nagasu competed in the free skating portion of the Figure Skating Team Event along with Adam Rippon, Nathan Chen, and the brother-sister dance team of Maia and Alex Shibutani at Gangneung Ice Arena, on the third day of the Winter Olympics.
Mirai Nagusu and Adam Rippon both left in tears after they were put out of the Olympic team in 2014. However, four years after, both veteran figure skaters put together the flawless back-to-back performance which helped the United States earn the bronze, behind Canada (Gold), and Russia (Silver).
After the performance, Nagasu said,
For both of us to be on this team, and to be on the same floor in the village, it's all super exciting. He won't stop talking about how exciting this all is, and I go: 'Adam! Adam! You know we still have a job to get done? We still have to skate well!'
Rippon became the oldest American male figure skater to make her debut in the Olympics in its 82 years of history. He scored 172.98 after Canadian Patrick Chan (179.75), and Mikhail Kolyada (173.57).
Nagasu became the third American to complete the triple axel in September 2017, and now she has achieved it at the Olympic level. Tonya Harding was the first American to achieve it which she did in 1991, and Kimmie Meissner got to the landmark in 2005.
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