Well, I was at US Nationals for the ladies FS, and from my vantage point, I could see Gracie tilting in the air on her 3Lz. She somehow straightened out before landing, and added the 3T. But I don't think that air tilting is textbook.
As for quick rotation--yes, Gracie was rotating quicker than I have ever seen her before. I also saw Gracie at 2013 Worlds, and at these Nationals, she was unrecognizable to me when she came out for the warm-up for the FS. At first I thought she was Ashley Cain, she looked so different. Whether Gracie will always be able to have THAT quick of a rotation throughout her career is questionable.
Seems to me that it'd be better for her long-term if she had more spring in her backend 3T versus quick rotation. Irina Slutskaya was able to do 3/3s very late in her career because she had huge spring in her jumps, and her ability to rotate didn't entirely depend on being very thin and rotating quickly. Michelle Kwan, on the other hand, had to be in really good shape in order to do the 3/3, and that's why it was a lot rarer from Michelle. She couldn't pull it off when she was not in peak condition, which is hard to maintain all season long.
Maybe for the particular competitions which you focused on, which happened to be one of Yu-Na's weaker 3/3 showings versus one of Gracie's best, which makes for an unfair comparison. Last season, Yu-Na's 3/3s and jumps were at their best at Worlds, and her jumps are likely to be in the best condition of the season at the Olympics as well.
Gracie's 3/3s were missing entirely at 2013 NHK, btw, whereas Yu-Na has never not attempted at least one 3/3 at any senior international competition she's been at. Yu-Na first landed a 3Lz/3T in an ISU competition in 2005 on the JGP. Nine years later, the 3Lz/3T is still in her arsenal. Not every one is equal in quality, but in terms of average quality, total quantity, and consistency over time, at every competition, in the SP and the FS, no one has exceeded Yu-Na's 3/3s.
Let's track Gracie's 3/3s over the next 4-6 years and see how many she lands in her senior career. In four years, I'd be very interested in seeing what Gracie's 3/3 looks like. I certainly will be watching with interest, as I've already stated that I think she has everything she needs, technically, to be a world champion one day. PCS will rise with consistency. If she wins the ladies segment of the team event with perfect performances, I can't imagine her PCS wouldn't be higher in the individual event should she again go clean.
I noticed that Yu-Na take-offs for her 3T has very little pre-rotation, which I always thought was a good thing, because she's still spending as much time in the air rotating as any other skater, if not more. Some skaters pre-rotate WAY more than Yu-Na and even if there's no UR at the landing, overall they spent less time in the air rotating. But I suppose it's not a good thing if you don't take pre-rotation into account, in which case Satoko Miyahara's 3Lz/3T can be considered as equivalent to Yu-Na's.
Interestingly enough, Julia Lipnitskaia got slightly more +GOE than Gracie Gold did at the 2013 Skate Canada SP (+1.20 to +1.10). Whereas Gracie obviously has a bigger 3Lz/3T than Julia, Julia, I believe, had a brief transition preceding her 3Lz/3T. Better flow on landing, too. Skaters can earn +GOE for jumps/spins in different ways, even if one jump is bigger than the other, the other may have a transition, etc.
