State of US Ladies in skating III: 2014-15 Season | Page 10 | Golden Skate

State of US Ladies in skating III: 2014-15 Season

starlight97

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 14, 2014
Gracie is not looking good, I wonder if this is because is early and she is not ready, but almost all the other girls are looking better than her, I mean the russians, Mirai, Polina, Satoko. And her programs are not doing anything for her :no:

I agree that she didn't look good at Nebelhorn Trophy but it could be because she's simply not ready yet.

I do fully support the "Her programs are not doing anything for her" argument though!
Why Frank, why do you use the same SP again? And Phantom of the Opera...?
She is such an emotional and fierce girl, she IS NO ice-princess-like little girl.
I wish they would give her some exciting and fierce music for once. She could pull this off! Apart from Sotnikova she will be surrounded by girls this season while she is a young woman....
I wish she would use her advantages and the things that separate her from the lot instead of ignoring them and staying in the same spot or even going backwards. :no:
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
For me it is ok if they want to try a lyrical program, but two?, she is not enough graceful yet, and the programs are mediocre, even Mao or Yulia would look bad with that programs. I think Gracie needs something like Osmond´s style, or even Yuna james bond, as sexy or funny.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
For me it is ok if they want to try a lyrical program, but two?, she is not enough graceful yet, and the programs are mediocre, even Mao or Yulia would look bad with that programs. I think Gracie needs something like Osmond´s style, or even Yuna james bond, as sexy or funny.

I think so too. In the LP she lost the performance marks to Liza (but Gracie was ahead in SS and TR, which I agree with). I'm not sure if lyrical is right for her.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Sadly Frank is stuck in the 1950's so skating to pretty princess music is all he really knows. He doesn't know what to do with a powerful skater like Gracie. It's great that he's given her polish but he needs to let her skate to her strengths.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Updated the scores. I also did a similar scoring system that I did last year. Basically giving points to the top 5 in each category and adding it up. (15-13-11-9-7).

Gracie Gold 93
Polina Edmunds 85
Courtney Hicks 73
Hannah Miller 44
Karen Chen 40
Mirai Nagasu 29
Angela Wang 14
Leah Keiser 9

See the scores below:

Total scores
Gracie Gold 182.31 (Nebelhorn Trophy, 3rd)
Polina Edmunds: 176.35 (U.S. International Classic, 1st)
Courtney Hicks: 174.14 (U.S. International Classic, 2nd)
Hannah Miller: 170.26 (Lombardia Trophy, 2nd)
Karen Chen: 160.95 (JGP Czech Skate, 3rd)

Angela Wang: 160.25 (Lombardia Trophy, 3rd)
Mirai Nagasu: 159.59 (U.S. International Classic, 5th)
Leah Keiser: 149.24 (JGP Ljubljana Cupm 3rd)
Mariah Bell 148.48 (Nebelhorn Trophy, 5th)
Amber Glenn: 148.08 (JGP Courcheval, 3rd)
Ashley Shin: 125.42 (U.S. International Classic, 7th)

SP scores:
Polina Edmunds 63.27 (U.S. International Classic)
Gracie Gold 61.82 (Nebelhorn Trophy)
Karen Chen 60.68 (JGP Czech Skate)
Courtney Hicks 58.90 (U.S. International Classic)
Mirai Nagasu 55.96 (U.S. International Classic)
—-
Angela Wang 54.88 (Lombardia Trophy)
Amber Glenn 54.71 (JGP Courcheval)
Hannah Miller 51.43 (Lombardia Trophy)
Mariah Bell 50.72 (Nebelhorn Trophy)
Ashley Shin 49.83 (U.S. International Classic)
Leah Keiser 47.66 (JGP Ljubljana Cup)

TES:
Polina Edmunds 35.31
Karen Chen 34.31
Courtney Hicks 31.70
Gracie Gold 31.68
Angela Wang 30.80
—-
Amber Glenn 30.79
Mirai Nagasu 27.90
Hannah Miller 26.75
Mariah Bell 26.27
Leah Keiser 26.20
Ashley Shin 25.47

PCS
Gracie Gold 31.66
Polina Edmunds 27.96
Mirai Nagasu 27.56
Courtney Hicks 27.20
Karen Chen 26.37
—-
Hannah Miller 25.68
Amber Glenn 24.92
Mariah Bell 24.45
Ashley Shin 24.36
Angela Wang 24.08
Leah Keiser 22.46

FS scores:
Gracie Gold 120.49
Hannah Miller 118.83
Courtney Hicks 115.24
Polina Edmunds 113.08
Angela Wang 105.37
—-
Mirai Nagasu 104.03
Leah Keiser 101.58
Karen Chen 100.27
Mariah Bell 97.76
Amber Glenn 93.37
Ashley Shin 75.59

TES:
Hannah Miller 64.59
Courtney Hicks 60.44
Gracie Gold 56.00
Leah Keiser 55.70
Polina Edmunds 54.64
—-
Angela Wang 52.21
Karen Chen 49.96
Mirai Nagasu 48.47
Amber Glenn 46.84
Mariah Bell 45.83
Ashley Shin 35.43

PCS
Gracie Gold 64.49
Polina Edmunds 59.44
Mirai Nagasu 56.56
Courtney Hicks 54.80
Hannah Miller 54.24
—-
Angela Wang 54.16
Mariah Bell 53.93
Karen Chen 51.31
Amber Glenn 47.53
Leah Keiser 45.88
Ashley Shin 42.16
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
I know you can't compare scores from different competitions, but Gracie being 4 points/8 points ahead in PCS over Mirai is a bit surprising. Also surprising is that Mirai gets PCS scores closer to Hicks than she does Polina.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
I agree with many here about the sort of programs Gracie is being given - I think that "fierce" is a good way to describe her, and that she is a "power" skater; I do not think "sexy or funny" would necessarily suit her that well, or that she should go the Kaetlyn Osmond route (Note: I think that style suits Kaetlyn - I just don't think it would suit Gracie.) Maybe as someone mentioned Yuna's James Bond - or perhaps Akiko's Kill Bill is more the direction that would be right for her. Though not necessarily "exactly like" that - just take that as inspiration and go in that direction, and work out something that suits Gracie uniquely herself. For instance, I think Gracie could do something with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbryc35gJBU

Just as an example. :)
 

GGoldberg

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
I think Gracie also has a majestic quality to her, and the ending of POTO could suit her quite well. I will be patient and watch this program develop for her. She admitted to being quite nervous. It's early in the season. Confidence can do wonders with this type of music selection.
 

flutzy13

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
The powerful score of Phantom, especially the dramatic title song, is quite perfect for Gracie. Except they used none of the parts that complement her strengths instead giving us a soft, feminine phantom that is no better suited to GG than Sleeping beauty.
 

Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Gracie is not looking good, I wonder if this is because is early and she is not ready, but almost all the other girls are looking better than her, I mean the russians, Mirai, Polina, Satoko. And her programs are not doing anything for her :no:

Maybe. But it was early for all the other skaters at Nebelhorn Trophy too and still Gracie lost to Elizebetha (sp) by 10 points and I don't believe attempted a 3/3.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Maybe. But it was early for all the other skaters at Nebelhorn Trophy too and still Gracie lost to Elizebetha (sp) by 10 points and I don't believe attempted a 3/3.

But some skaters start slower than others. Gracie seems to one of these folks. Jason did win, but he wasn't 100 percent either with all those UR.

And oh hey, remember when Kaetlyn Osmond best Adelina Sotnikova at this competition back in 2012? How much did that matter by Sochi? Or that Adelina was beat by Christina Gao at Skate America a few weeks later? Let's keep that in mind...we're at the beginning of a long cycle.
 
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Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
That's why I wrote "maybe", rather than the "yes" another poster offered as the reason for her performance.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
But some skaters start slower than others. Gracie seems to one of these folks. Jason did win, but he wasn't 100 percent either with all those UR.

And oh hey, remember when Kaetlyn Osmond best Adelina Sotnikova at this competition back in 2012? How much did that matter by Sochi? Or that Adelina was beat by Christina Gao at Skate America a few weeks later? Let's keep that in mind...we're at the beginning of a long cycle.

Great points. I think this early in the season what is important is to evaluate how well the programs suit the skaters and not how well the technical elements are done. Early last season most people believed Adelina should have pulled the 3F from her programs because it was so bad, but by the end of the season she nailed them all. Gracie has plenty to time to get the timing of the jumps right in the context of her programs. I just am not convinced her music is doing her any favors.
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 19, 2011
My thoughts re: Gracie (I didn't feel like retyping it so I cross-posted:slink:)


The SP is nice but, b/c we've seen it so many times and they didn't do anything to freshen it up for the season, it's going to be boring by comparison to all of the other top skaters who have fresh new programs for this season.

I agree about the FS as well. I think it's a lovely program, I really do...however, on Gracie, it's a disappointing program. I mentioned this once before: this program on a skater like Alissa Czisny would be exquisite b/c Alissa is perfect for carrying music like this. Gracie OTOH does a decent job but she lacks those intangibles needed to make this nice program an exquisite one. It comes off as a generic pretty program b/c IMO Gracie brings nothing to it...there's nothing extra there. It's just a nice program.

Gracie does not shine in her FS...she's just kinda there. Like last season I'm sure the programs will work for Gracie especially if she's able to land the jumps but I still feel as though they've missed the mark again. Frank and Lori need to take a cue from Courtney Hicks. Courtney found music that allows her to showcase her power while looking more mature and refined. Frank has done a good job with helping Gracie become a better competitor but it's been at the expense of what made Gracie special. She has completely lost her edge since going to him...her results are better but, IMO, she's boring to watch.


I'll add that by commenting on her jumps. Yes it's early in the season but when you look at skaters like Polina and Satoko and the way they're nailing jumps left and right, it does make you take notice. Gracie seems to be an second-half-of-the-season skater judging by her last two seasons; however, I don't think she can afford to flub her way through the GP this year and expect to be top dog going into nationals, especially if Polina has a strong GP debut.

One thing is for sure: Gracie is not the technical powerhouse she used to be. Going by what I saw here, it looks like she has lost half of her speed and nearly all of the explosiveness in her jumps. It's a shame...
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
One thing is for sure: Gracie is not the technical powerhouse she used to be. Going by what I saw here, it looks like she has lost half of her speed and nearly all of the explosiveness in her jumps. It's a shame...

I'd be ok with her losing a bit of the technical prowess if she improved her artistry, as we often see skaters lose some of the jumps as they move out of their teenage years. However, I don't see any improvement on the artistic front either. Still, she still has a solid reputation and will get good PCS scores for at least a few more events. Although it is early in the season, I'm not very optimistic about the US ladies making an impact on the world stage. Gracie at her very best would need a few errors from the likes of Adelina and Julia to beat them, so if she can't land her jumps she is going to struggle mightily.
 

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Country
United-States
I really don't notice much difference in Gracie's skating TBH. It just seems like she is skating with less purpose which affects all the little things. I fear the same may be happening to Yulia. Lets face it...these girls have been thru the ringer and back. I can't hold it against them if they are struggling with motivation. The Good news for Gracie is there aren't a bunch of girls nipping at her heals that can easily replace her in international competitions. Then again they both have become accustomed to a large stage and that may prove to help motivate and seperate them as the season develops. Here's to hoping for the best!

I'm not hitting a panic switch for anyone yet.
 

amc987

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 12, 2012
I think it's early to be too concerned about Gracie. It's only September and her LP is new. Even though I don't love this new program, she seems like she's feeling it more than she felt "The Sleeping Beauty". I would like to see her do something with a bit more edge that showcases her speed and power, but I don't think this is a terrible choice. I'm sure some of her speed and her harder combinations will come back as the season progresses.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I just watched Gracie's LP. It wasn't her best performance ever, but I sort of expected a complete disaster based on what people were saying. She's definitely done much worse. The girl still did 5 triples. Hardly a meltdown.

As for the program, yeah its not quite there yet, but I actually think with time it could work. I know, I'm crazy and clearly in the minority, but I didn't hate it as much as others...

Yeah I just didn't see anything that screams panic button..but I realize I'm in the minority...
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
I just watched Gracie's LP. It wasn't her best performance ever, but I sort of expected a complete disaster based on what people were saying. She's definitely done much worse. The girl still did 5 triples. Hardly a meltdown.

As for the program, yeah its not quite there yet, but I actually think with time it could work. I know, I'm crazy and clearly in the minority, but I didn't hate it as much as others...

Yeah I just didn't see anything that screams panic button..but I realize I'm in the minority...

I agree with you. I actually liked Gracie's program, and thought she did some parts very well indeed...BUT...the program paled in comparison to Liza and Leonova's programs. In terms of commitment and connection to the music and overall...interestingness, Gracie has got a ways to go.
But still, I'd give her a solid B for her LP. :)
 
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