Can Gracie Gold handle the pressure?

[Mrs. P]

um, why is angela's name being brought up? i don't see USA today visiting. there's no comparable hype.

IIRC, USFS made angela the 3rd alternate to junior worlds last year. 3rd alternate reads (to me) -- we don't want to send you unless an epidemic incapacitates most of the other available candidates.

in contrast, pat st. peter said USFSA is considering sending gracie to SENIOR worlds and 4 continents, even after gracie declined to turn senior and compete against czisny, nagasu, wagner, instead faced her stiffest challenge from ashley cain and hannah miller. of course it's gracie's prerogative--there's nothing wrong with her choice to pace her career her way. i was against the idea of a senior world spot being awarded when she hasn't beaten the prime contenders in competition, but it did not turn me against gracie or her skating in any way.

look, i like gracie's skating, she's an absolute knock out looks-wise and i see improvements in her artistry. i just don't understand bringing angela into this because i do not see where she has been 'hyped.' a thread with 14 replies on GS doesn't count the same as an article from USA today, does it?

back to gracie, i think she did extremely well. she did not have a melt down--she even had her kiss and cry reactions (mostly) under control, IMO. i see great things in her future.

adelina's also one of my favorites and i also see great things in _her_ future--i think she's plenty great already.

Whoa! I wasn't picking on Angela Wang or saying she's hyped I'm just saying, that I enjoy her skating a lot and I'm not going to not worry about how she does in the future because I enjoy her skating right now.

I think that's its OK to enjoy skaters and not think too much about the future. And quite frankly, I'm not going to stop liking Gracie because of this poor showing. I still have respect for her to go out there and fighting for every jump.

I think Skate Canada for what it is, a poor performance.

[skfan]

Her performances this season have been very poor. She makes so many jumping errors. She doesn’t show half of what she does in practice sessions in competition (people who watched the Skate Canada practice sessions thought she was as impressive as Katelyn Osmond - and then she totally bombed when it came time to compete.) What’s the use of her practicing a Rippon Lutz and difficult 3-3’s when she doesn’t even show a stable double axel in competition? I think her technical content is too ambitious. She may be able to land those jumps in practice sessions, but she can’t execute when it counts. Her nerves clearly get the better of her, as they did today with the doubles/pops. I didn’t think she could be worse than she was in the short program, but she delivered another messy performance with only two clean triples landed (both in the first jumping pass) in the free skate. The skate was far below the level of her performances last season.

As for the judges liking her skating, I don’t think that’s true. She got a lower PCS score than all but two competitors in the free skate (the bottom two finishers.) The judges hammered her with low component scores. She’s clearly doing damage to her reputation with her error-filled performances.

gracie has an opportunity to reverse these trends at her next GP. then there's still 4CC and senior worlds spots, because my guess is she is not going to drop out of contention at US nationals just yet.

[drivingmissdaisy]

Almost every year, this exact thing happens. Some poor, unsuspecting junior seems to be talented. We are all in awe and declare her (it is almost always a her) the next big thing. We are excited. We are enthusiastic. We love her to pieces.

Fortunately for Gracie, we actually have a good American girl now (Ashley). Hopefully that can take some of the pressure and attention of off her because we aren't totally reliant on Gracie's results to earn spots for the Olympics, etc. In some ways I think it also helps that she isn't known for her artistry, so a wider audience hasn't noticed her yet as they did Naomi, Sasha, and Mirai in the past. I think she's still on track to do great things.

[Mrs. P]

I mean, I do enjoy Juniors- I didn't mean to say I don't. However, the heart of why I try hard not to get too excited about them is in what you say about fans. I think I'm kind of unusual but take being a fan of a skater pretty seriously. To me it's different than just liking or enjoying the skater. Once I consider myself a real fan of a skater it's pretty much for life, and I do not just give up on them or start criticizing them like some are doing to Gracie/Adelina/Mirai and whoever else. As an example I am a Mirai fan and though I sometimes am frustrated with her I really can't bring myself to give up on her and probably never will.

Of course it is awesome to watch a skater's evolution, but I guess this is why I don't tend to get super excited about a skater after just one year... for me, watching the evolution is what makes me a fan. I'm seldom sold immediately. Exceptions for me in 'recent' history have been Sasah Cohen, V/M, and now Julia L. However, most of the skaters I would really call myself a fan of grew on me over time- and I prefer it that way. It reduces a lot of the anxiety we see over the Gracie's and Adelina's when you can enjoy their evolution without feeling obligated to crown them instantly.

I'm not sure I am explaining this exactly correctly, but there it is.

No, you make a lot of sense! To go with your example, everyone here knows how much of a fan I am of the Shibutanis. There are inherent qualities about them, both as skaters and people, that make me want to stand behind them and defend them when they have a less-than-idea competition. Likewise, I think it's good that Mirai has fans like you and she merits fans because she has some inherit nice qualities about her.

Actually, when I saw Adelina live, I found a LOT to appreciate about her. Even though she made a few jump mistakes, I was impressed with her speed and ice coverage.

Likewise with Gracie, even with her poor performance, there was a lot to appreciate and I think as fans and as purveyors of the sport, you have to look for those little things. I think it's too easy to put a broad brush stroke on someone as a failure or success.

I think her team will do what you're supposed to do in these competitions --assess what was successful and what didn't work.

One final thought -- while Gracie sort of was hyped up over one year....when you think about it, she has been a skater that has developed over time. She had a 2A-3T, for example, right after she competed at the novice level in 2010, but it wasn't until she was a junior two years later she was more consistent with it. Gracie strikes me as someone that benefits from having multiple tries and competitions to get used to an element. That's why I don't think watering down her content is the way to go. I think she needs these early season performances to tweak what she is doing.

[bekalc]

Give Gracie a break! I frankly thought the hype was a bit much. She had like one or two good skates and the girl was annointed as the second coming (at least the baby Russians won a few more competitions) Its a huge pressure and this girl is just getting use to it.. Its much easier to come out and skate well if people aren't expecting much...

Give her, Adelina and others time to get use to the competition at this level-before you anoint her as failures.

[bigsisjiejie]

I also don't think Gracie needs to water down the content. She CAN do these jumps and she has sound technique, her issues are mental and come from inexperience. After watching her FS a couple of times, it looks like she's just rushing a little bit and it's throwing off her usual timing. That's pretty classic nerves and/or over-excitedness. The only way to get better at riding this horse is to climb back on it again and give it another go. Only a defeatist would head back to the little kids' pony ride area. That goes for Adelina, too. Both of these young ladies are going to be winning competitions sooner or later, mark my words.

[ForeverFish]

I think we can agree that she has the ability, 100%, to dazzle at the big international competitions. Skate Canada was disastrous because she was clearly jittery from the start, rushing through her SP and displaying none of the sass and pomp that she usually does, but the fact that we recognize it as such shows that we're used to much, much better performances from her. And since when does she ever have issues with jumping? If anyone should be landing those triple-triple combinations, it's Gracie--and Adelina, who made similar flubs at Skate America last week. It's Gracie's first-ever senior GP, and the hype and expectations got to her, but in no way should she concede to the worst program of her life by dumbing down the jumping passes when she has obvious potential for massive marks. She dipped her feet into the senior international pool this weekend and now knows the quality of programs she needs to put out in order to have a good shot at placing on the podium. The sad thing is, had she not missed the triple toe and double axel in her short program, she would have placed in the top three going into the free skate, which I think would have given her more confidence, but it's better that she learns this at the Grand Prix than at Nationals or Worlds. She doesn't need to skate in the GPF this season, but next season, qualification is a must. As of now, she and Ashley are still the only two plausible contenders for the ladies of the Team USA.

Since this thread is a result of her Skate Canada performance, though, I'm going to be honest here and say that there was some clear bias from the judges. Osmond is a talented upstart and the majority of the women weren't anywhere close to delivering their best, but placing the sixteen-year-old ahead of Suzuki, Makarova, Murakami, and Tuktamysheva is an injustice to their stylistic maturity.

[ForeverFish]

Give Gracie a break! I frankly thought the hype was a bit much. She had like one or two good skates and the girl was annointed as the second coming (at least the baby Russians won a few more competitions) Its a huge pressure and this girl is just getting use to it.. Its much easier to come out and skate well if people aren't expecting much...

Give her, Adelina and others time to get use to the competition at this level-before you anoint her as failures.

Honestly, it's always disappointing to see the amount of hype being piled on the talented teenage skaters, and that goes for the Russian girls, too. Lipnitskaia still seems too young to really grasp the meaning of pressure--her mindset mirrors Nadia Comaneci's at the 1976 Olympics, who was the same age and said that "the only pressure you have as a kid is to do well"--but Adelina, Elizaveta, and Gracie are clearly flubbing due to a hard time juggling skating and adolescent struggles with school, puberty, etc. Mishin even suggested that Liza lose weight to improve her jumps, which--aside from being ridiculous, since she suffers from no lack of exercise--demonstrates that skating fans and writers, caught up in the hype, take their disappointment to the extreme when the fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds fail to turn out perfect performances. The plain truth is that they don't have the experience to be as consistent as veterans like Suzuki, Wagner, etc. Osmond just dug herself into a hole with her Skate Canada win because the next time she flubs, the criticism and doubts will descend on her like vultures.

[theresa]

I have never jumped on Gold's bandwagon due to my reservations with her skating. She has the jumps though I think that there are other aspects of her skating that she needs to work on to become more of a complete skater. The girl is 17 and its quite obvious that she under a lot of pressure due to the nervous skating that we saw over the past couple of days. I think we should give her time to get her herself together. Being new on the senior scene is a new thing for her and maybe we will see a different Gracie later in the season.

Out of all the junior-turned-senior skaters, I am putting all my money on Lipnitskaia. She has nerves of steel and as we saw last season, she is very consistent....

[chuckm]

Gracie chose to skate junior last year because the only other time she made it to Nationals was as a Novice in 2010 (she was 4th); she didn't make it out of junior sectionals in 2011. It would have been a huge jump from Novice to Senior with a gap year in between.

[museksk8r]

lol ok Ksenia and Elene have been in the top 10 at Worlds three times each. Losing to the likes of them isn't a travesty.

They both can also skate circles around Gold from a PCS perspective, and rightfully so. Team Gracie must learn that skating encompasses so much more than just jumps. When those go south for Gracie Gold, she has nothing else about her skating to fall back on.

[ForeverFish]

They both can also skate circles around Gold from a PCS perspective, and rightfully so. Team Gracie must learn that skating encompasses so much more than just jumps. When those go south for Gracie Gold, she has nothing else about her skating to fall back on.

I found Gracie's short program (when it's skated correctly) to showcase much, much more than her jumps. She has a naturally flashy, showy style, and Hernando's Hideaway is a great complement for that. Plus, as was noted at Junior Worlds, she never fails to put on a show.

[prettykeys]

I found Gracie's short program (when it's skated correctly) to showcase much, much more than her jumps. She has a naturally flashy, showy style, and Hernando's Hideaway is a great complement for that. Plus, as was noted at Junior Worlds, she never fails to put on a show.

I agree.

However, something about her puts some doubt in my mind as to whether she can handle the pressure. She reminds me a bit of Carolina Kostner - very different skaters, but they both have all the qualities to be a top skater. Their natural temperaments, though, seem to be of the gentler type and maybe not fierce enough to make a competitor that regularly lands on the podium.

I hope I am wrong.

[Mrs. P]

From icenetwork: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news

"I just really need more experience competing this program at the senior level," Gold said. "I was kind of taken with the crowd and the lights and the signs, and after I'd land one jump, I would get ahead of myself again and kind of mess it up. I have to work on keeping that in check."

This is why I think she'll do fine in the long run. No excuses. No "I don't know what happened." Just "I need more experience." That makes sense, Skate Canada was her third international competition after all and her first GP!

She's been saying a lot her challenge is not to get ahead of herself. And given the amount of hype that she's received in the last year, I can see how it can be quite difficult to not to do that. We forget that just a year ago, nobody really knew who she was....

[ForeverFish]

I agree.

However, something about her puts some doubt in my mind as to whether she can handle the pressure. She reminds me a bit of Carolina Kostner - very different skaters, but they both have all the qualities to be a top skater. Their natural temperaments, though, seem to be of the gentler type and maybe not fierce enough to make a competitor that regularly lands on the podium.

I hope I am wrong.

Actually, from the consistency we saw from her last season, she seems to revel in the pressure--or at least gain strength from it. In interviews she seems like a passionate skater who, aside from enjoying herself, also wants to win. What we need to remember is that she's only seventeen, and is still balancing skating with school and adolescent issues. One misstep is natural--she simply does not have the maturity of the older skaters, which will come with time--and isn't the death nail for her career as some have been saying.