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Mirai Nagasu: Former Avs ‘ice girl’ wins bronze medal at Olympics

Figure Skating - Winter Olympics Day 3

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 12: Mirai Nagasu of the United States of America celebrates after competing in the Figure Skating Team Event Ladie’s Single Free Skating on day three of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 12, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

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Be sure to visit NBCOlympics.com and NBC Olympic Talk for full hockey coverage from PyeongChang.

During the 2015-16 season, Mirai Nagasu was a member of the Colorado Avalanche’s “Ice Girls.” All apologies to speedsters such as Nathan MacKinnon, but chances are, she was the most skilled skater on that surface every night.

Nagasu made some history at the 2018 Winter Olympics, becoming the first American woman to successfully pull off a triple axel at the Olympics. She’s only the third American woman to pull off that feat during international competition in general, joining Tonya Harding and Kimmie Meissner.

(If you’ve seen the wonderfully weird biopic “I, Tonya,” you know that Nagasu accomplished quite the rare feat.)

By landing that triple axel, Nagasu helped the United States take bronze in the team figure-skating event. The 24-year-old also has an opportunity to win more, as she’ll compete in individual competition on Feb. 21 and 23. She participated in her first Winter Olympics at age 16 in 2010, but dealt with setbacks in 2014.

It’s a really cool story, which you can learn more about from the Avalanche’s post. This also includes Nagasu in the Avs-themed gear.

More great stuff on Nagasu

In-N-Out Burger to Olympic glory.

Twitter reacts to her triple axel.

Profile at NBC Olympics.


James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.