It's barely 7 a.m., but the Pickwick Ice Center in Burbank is a maze of skaters, some so newly awake that pillowcase creases are still imprinted on their faces.
One girl in a pink-striped shirt and ponytail stands out. She soars toward the ceiling when she jumps and turns into a colorful blur when she spins, swift and sure and confident.
Just like a champion.
Which she is.
Mirai Nagasu is also a freshman at Arcadia High, and her mother, Ikuko, waits for her with a pink, monkey-patterned blanket and an anxious expression. Winning the U.S. figure skating title is no excuse for being late for school.
Nagasu, who will be 15 in April, is the second-youngest woman to win the U.S. championship, a stunning achievement in her senior-level debut.
She is everything this faltering sport could wish for: charming, unspoiled and tremendously talented. The daughter of Japanese immigrants who operate a small sushi restaurant, she's the American dream in a 4-foot-11, barely 80-pound package.
Thanks to her victory, she's also a celebrity among the kids at school. "They say I look tall on TV and then when I get off the ice, they say, 'Wow, you're so small,' " she said.
Not to worry. Nagasu stood tall atop the podium last month and will soon have another chance to rise above the pack.
Although she's too young to compete at the senior World Championships, Nagasu will pursue the world junior title beginning Friday in Sofia, Bulgaria. She will be old enough for the big show next year, when it will be held in Los Angeles and could launch her toward the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
"I haven't really thought of it, but at nationals I had a glimpse of a thought because I saw myself on the poster," she said of an advertisement that features her image. "The reason I noticed it was the person was wearing my dress. I was like, 'That's me!' "
No mere picture could capture the depth of her will. She looks delicate but is strong-minded enough to have succeeded in a sport that can be cut-throat and capricious, exhilarating one moment and heartbreaking the next.
Although she fell on the first jump of her free skate routine at the U.S. championships, she rebounded with spirit, skating with speed that her rivals can't match as well as impressive technique.
"She's extremely bright. She certainly has a determined streak," said Bob Paul, one of her coaches for eight years. "She used to fall a lot and got over that fast."
