Mirai Nagasu will skip nationals, reveals past surgery

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 that appears to have been drafted nearly a month ago, Nagasu explained why she is opening up about the procedure:

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…