U.S. Olympian Polina Edmunds withdrew from next week’s World Figure Skating Championships due to injury and will be replaced by Mirai Nagasu.
Edmunds, 17, suffered a bone bruise in her right foot that limited her ability to perform jumps, according to U.S. Figure Skating.
“While the decision to withdraw is disappointing, I don’t want to compete at the World Championships without performing my hardest technical elements,” Edmunds said in a press release. “I go to competition with the goal of representing Team USA to the best of my ability and performing my strongest programs. I will take time to recover and am looking forward to preparing for next season.”
Edmunds finished second at the U.S. Championships in January to make her third straight World Championships team. She was eighth at the previous two Worlds and ninth at the Sochi Olympics.
Nagasu, 22, will compete at Worlds for the first time since 2010, when she led after the short program but was 11th in the free skate to place seventh overall. Nagasu was also fourth at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
Nagasu joins the last two U.S. champions, Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, on the Worlds team in Boston.
The U.S. women hope to end a 10-year medal drought at Worlds, its longest in the Winter Olympic era.
The entire U.S. roster for Worlds includes zero teenagers for the first time since 1934.
