Alongside a triple Axel and Olympic bronze medal, Mirai Nagasu is adding a podcast to her repertoire.
The internationally decorated Team USA athlete is taking over Ice Talk — the all-access figure skating podcast which revolves around competition recaps and interviews with skating personalities. The show, formerly hosted by Nick McCarvel and Jackie Wong, relaunched this week with Nagasu as its host.
As Nagasu anticipates her new role, she knows she has big shoes to fill. She said McCarvel and Wong are "beloved" for their work in the skating community. She is, however, also looking forward to putting her own spin on the show through her personal experiences.
"I am nervous because I'm a people pleaser, and I want to create content that others value and that I value," Nagasu, 27, said. "But I'm also excited for the opportunity to just talk about skating all of the time. I feel like I have a lot to say."
While recovering from her second hip surgery in Boston over the summer, Nagasu experimented with new hobbies in her time off the ice.
"Not only did I dabble in tie dying t-shirts during quarantine, but I really wanted to start a podcast," Nagasu said. She recorded a couple of episodes on her own, but quickly lost interest operating "a one [woman] show."
So, she reached out to Ice Talk's editor, Tara Wellman, for advice. A couple of weeks after Nagasu had expressed interest, McCarvel and Wong decided to move on to other ventures, and the show was serendipitously looking for its next host.
In the 30-minute episodes, Nagasu's Ice Talk reboot will continue to include expert perspectives, exploring the tactical decisions skaters, coaches and choreographers make throughout a season.
"One of the topics we've considered is [music choice]," Nagasu said. "It's so interesting what skaters choose. When it's an Olympic season, great classics come up, then in other seasons, [athletes feel] a bit more freedom."
Nagasu is also strategizing how to guide fans through the unprecedented 2020-21 season, which will kick off with 2020 Skate America® next week.
"You won't get to see the traditional Grand Prix where skaters from different countries go head-to-head," Nagasu said. "But [this year] gives the athletes who wouldn't have necessarily competed at the Grand Prix this soon [in their careers] a chance to skate," Nagasu said.
Nagasu hopes to recap Skate America® in one of her first episodes of Ice Talk.
"There's always an anomaly or an outlier, and those are the people breaking down barriers," Nagasu said. "That's what happened when Nathan Chen decided that he could do quad flips and Lutzes. Now, they're everywhere."
Nagasu, amazed at how far the sport has come in a short amount of time, also recalled how she was the only woman in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games to attempt at triple Axel. The next year at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Alysa Liu landed three between her short program and free skate. U.S. ladies like Amber Glenn, Bradie Tennell and Gracie Gold also have revealed videos of their progress toward the jump in practice.
And highlighting skaters' accomplishments is what Nagasu anticipates enjoying the most as the host of Ice Talk.
"I'm in the part of my life where I'm ready to appreciate other skaters' hard work, instead of having to answer to it," Nagasu said. "At the same time, I've grown up studying skating, so I'm excited to hopefully take my skill set and change the way others think."
While Nagasu hasn't completely written off competitive skating, she is still aware of her influence on young skaters. She wants to be a positive role model by encouraging athletes to embrace authenticity. After taking time away from social media, Nagasu now uses her public platforms to be transparent about her own mental health, especially in her time away from the sport.
"As much as I admire my role models like Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi, I really saw them as perfect human beings without any flaws," Nagasu said. "And that's a great way to look up to someone, but at the same time, I think my generation relates to others through vulnerability."
Nagasu is one of a handful of skaters who have shared on Instagram how drastically life changes after a highly competitive athletic career. Podcasting, along focusing on sustainability and her education, is an outlet for her to explore new passions as she transitions toward the next chapter in her career.
"I think I'm sort of in denial because ever since I was a young girl, my whole life revolved around skating," Nagasu said, recalling she took piano lessons to connect with the rhythm of her skating music and ballet to improve her extensions on the ice. "It's difficult because I identify as a figure skater. I have to tell the athlete in me it's okay for me not to be training so hard right now because I'm coming off of a surgery."
Nagasu is also challenging herself to be transparent on Instagram by advocating for civil rights and encouraging her followers to vote. Because she's shy, she never felt it was previously her place to discuss social issues. Now, she knows it's her responsibility.
"It's always hard to talk about topics I don't feel like I'm an expert in, but people like Naomi Osaka, who aren't afraid to say their stance, make me think [athletes] should be speak up," Nagasu said. "People who have the courage to say things like that pivot society."
When it comes to the future, Nagasu looks forward with a sense of opportunity. She was recently cleared to skate and is preparing to graduate from University of Colorado Colorado Springs with a degree in a business-related field. But juggling a podcast on top of schoolwork and practice doesn't faze the Olympian. In Nagasu's eyes, she's just getting started.
