Triple axels don’t frighten Nagasu

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA» Since making history as the first American woman to land a triple axel in Olympic competition Feb. 11, figure skater Mirai Nagasu has fielded requests for dates, gotten social media shoutouts from stars of her favorite TV shows (“Modern Family” and “The Big Bang Theory”), posed for pictures with singer Rachel Platten (whose hit, “Fight Song,” is her internal walk-up music before competitions) and all but campaigned for a stint on “Dancing With the Stars.”

Sunday at the Gangneung Ice Arena, Nagasu came back down to earth. She landed, quite literally, with a thud, falling hard on her hip when the opening triple axel of her short program went awry during a midmorning practice. Nagasu popped up and skated on, showing no ill effects of a blow hard enough to make a sickening smack that reverberated through the nearly empty 12,000-seat arena. By the end of the 40-minute session, she had landed the jump at least three times without incident.

It represented only the first step of what Nagasu, 24, came to South Korea to achieve in her second Olympic Games, having finished fourth at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and been passed over for a spot on the 2014 Sochi squad. She came to earn the individual medal that eluded her eight years ago. As Nagasu indicated Sunday, this is no moment for playing it safe. The high-risk triple axel will remain a fixture of her programs — both the short, when the women’s competition gets underway Wednesday, and Friday’s decisive free skate.

“I’m definitely going for it. No guts, no glory,” Nagasu said. “If I fall, I’ll take the fall and get up and keep going.”