Potential not quite reached.

The words of coach Frank Carroll so often speak painfully true.

"So near and you gave it away. I'm sorry." 

Before Mirai Nagasu took to the ice for her free skate the master coach said - "You're the best skater in the world, believe it." When she is skating her best Mirai can indeed beat the best skaters in the world. Her short programme at the World Championships last March showed that. However she still seems unable to grasp the opportunity and hold onto a gold medal with two winning performances.

Watching Mirai can be a painful business as rather like Sasha Cohen you know she has all the potential and talent in the world. You just don't know if she will put it out on the ice when it counts. You want her to, so badly.

Having finally had the chance to watch her free skate thanks to the kind folks on youtube.  The mistakes she made were not big ones- an edge call, one rotation downgrade and a flukey loss of balance on the entry to her flying spin. But in the deep competition of US figure skating they meant a potential gold turned into a bronze and a spot on the world team turned into the painful role of team alternate.

So is she the best skater in the world? We probably won't get to see this year. She may not have quite the class or elegance of an olympic standard Yu-Na Kim but even her 'mistake-ridden' free skate from Nationals was a darn site better than 5 of the 6 skaters in the final group at Europeans this week.

Mirai will have to regroup quickly. Despite missing out on a ticket to Tokyo she will be at the Four Continents championships in Chinese Taipei in just 2 weeks time. She will have the opportunity to face off again with her opponents at home and also the likes of Mao Asada and Miki Ando. If she can hold her nerve and skate upto the level of her potential, she could win gold, and that would make the world team selection committee turn their heads.

I searched Mirai's name on twitter today and the feed with comments of people who will be disappointed not to see her skate in Tokyo. The fiery teenager who is known for speaking her mind had this to say on the matter.

"I can't believe I messed up on a spin! A spin, I didn't attack the program as much as I wanted to. In the beginning I was nervous. I'm a perfectionist, so if I'm not satisfied, or every single run through isn't perfect, I let that get to me instead of going out there and attacking. I just let my nerves get the best of me." 

She's about as straight-talking as her 72 year old coach!