The first American woman to land a triple Axel at the Olympics, Mirai Nagasu, revealed she underwent surgery to repair an injury caused by learning the jump in the lead-up to the Winter Olympics in 2018.
In a statement posted to her Twitter account that appears to have been drafted nearly a month ago, Nagasu explained why she is opening up about the procedure, which she said was done after a diagnosis of a torn labrum in the hip and a fracture of part of the hip socket. Nagasu did not specify when the procedure took place. She wrote in part:
I knew that making the Olympic team wasn’t going to be a trip of cotton candy and sprinkles but on some days, the pain and pressure were excruciatingly overwhelming. It also wasn’t something that I could easily share with anyone outside of my team because I saw this injury as a weakness. More importantly, I didn’t want the media to use it as an excuse to why I didn’t compete well that day or a reason to leave me off the team again.
Nagasu added that being left off the 2014 Olympic team, after finishing fourth in Vancouver at age 16, left her “devastated and heartbroken.”
The two-time Olympian also admitted on Twitter on Saturday that she would not be competing at nationals later in January.
“Suffice to say, I won’t be at the @USFigureSkating Championships as a competitor, but I’ll be cheering everyone on from the other side of the wall!” the 2018 Olympic team event bronze medalist posted.
Nagasu finished 10th at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and was also 10th at March’s world championships.
Suffice to say, I won’t be at the @USFigureSkating Championships as a competitor, but I’ll be cheering everyone on from the other side of the wall! pic.twitter.com/axmVG6ObRm
— Mirai Nagasu (@mirai_nagasu) January 5, 2019
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated Nagasu skipped the 2018 World Championships.
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