Mirai Nagasu became a household name in the U.S. when she made history as the first American woman to nail a triple axel during competition at the Olympics. What’s crazy is that only a few short years ago, Nagasu was working as an ice girl for the Colorado Avalanche.
Denver news station 9News shared the following video of Nagasu as an ice girl for the Avs during the 2015-16 season:
Before @mirai_nagasu was landing triple axels, she was a @Avalanche Ice Girl during the 2015-16 season. #9Sports pic.twitter.com/8tTd8NgyLM
— 9NEWS Sports Denver (@9NEWSSports) February 12, 2018
As an ice girl, Nagasu would clean the ice at the Pepsi Center during breaks in Avs games.
Nagasu saw the video on Twitter and responded, implying she needed the job to pay for her skating practice.
Gotta pay for skating somehow! https://t.co/bzapKJb5fM
— Mirai Nagasu (@mirai_nagasu) February 12, 2018
The Avs Ice Girl Twitter account congratulated Nagasu last month when she qualified for the Olympics.
Congratulations to our former Ice Girl Mirai on qualifying for the #WinterOlympics!
Good luck in South Korea! #BestOfUS pic.twitter.com/S71FH71EiO
— AvsIceGirls (@AvsIceGirls) January 6, 2018
Nagasu, who is from Arcadia, Calif., moved to Colorado Springs in 2014 for training purposes. She already has a bronze medal from the team competition in PyeongChang.
