Mirai Nagasu

U.S. figure skater Mirai Aileen Nagasu was born on April 16, 1993, in Montebello, Calif., the daughter of Japanese immigrants. Though her parents were keen on a golfing career for their daughter, Nagasu begin skating at the age of 5 and competing on the juvenile level in 2002-03. By the 2003-04 season she had advanced to the intermediate level, where she remained through the 2004-05 season, placing 11th in her qualifying group for the 2005 U.S. Junior Championships, which prevented her from advancing. A win at sectionals in the 2006-07 season, competing at the junior level, propelled her to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships - just her second national-level event. At U.S. Nationals that season she won the overall title, and at the Junior World event she nabbed the silver medal, despite her lack of international skating experience. By 2007-08 Nagasu had joined the ranks of the senior level nationally, though she remained at junior level internationally. At the ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Lake Placid, N.Y., she won the gold, and in the fall of 2007 she competed as part of Team USA in the International Counter Match event in Japan. That same season she became the second-youngest American senior ladies champion and the first skater to win back-to-back junior and senior ladies' titles in U.S. competition since 1937-38. By the 2008-09 season she was competing at the senior level nationally and internationally, and began working with a ballet coach, in addition to her skating coach. She won her first senior Grand Prix medal at the 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard, taking silver, and in the 2011 Four Continents she took the bronze - a feat she repeated in 2017. She continued to add to her collection of medals, and in January of 2018 she was named to the U.S. Winter Olympic Team to compete in PyeongChang, South Korea. After arriving in PyeongChang, Nagasu went on to make history when, during the women's free skate portion of the team event, she became the first American woman - and the third woman overall, after Japanese skaters Midori Ito and Mao Asada - to land the triple axel jump at an Olympic event. She also turned in perfect versions of eight other triple jumps, including a triple salchow combination, and helped lead the U.S. team to the bronze medal. In April 2018, it was announced that Nagasu would be joining the cast of Season 26 of "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ) as part of a special all-athlete competition.