Gracie Gold's prospects for 2018 season?

[charlotte14]

Yes she skated two numbers last night with one being her exhibition to "Golden" by Ruth B that she had done in SOI this past spring. The other number (first one) she wore all black for. Single/double jumps and the jumps were scarce.

That's all I have to say.

How about her speed? And the quality of her performance?

 

[LiamForeman]

And because you mentioned it, Angela N. was a special case because she had so many tragedies in her short career on the ice, injuries and her mother being killed in an accident amongst them. Angela N. was forced to switch coaches when Elena passed away from pancreatic cancer.

Umm, Angela was a well known head case since Novice. Yes, you cannot compare the two. Gracie has only been a headcase for a year and half, unlike Angela which defined her career. So you are right, you can't compare the two.

 

[bookworm94]

Thanks much for the info.

Really, this is all so perplexing. I know club skaters who never made it out of regionals 10 years ago & now skate maybe once a month.
And they can do at least that much.

I don't think the problem is that she can't do triple jumps anymore. She's probably lost all confidence and doesn't even try? I hope she can get back to her old self some day, but to be honest, I'm losing hope.

 

[surimi]

Thank you for the reports. It's not a very merry read, but Gold has my compassion. She seems to have huge confidence issues now, and maybe she's suffering from health issues as well. She's one of the reasons I bought tickets for the Nepela trophy, but I'm slowly resigning myself to the idea of her not participating. IMO these Autumn competitions, including GP, can damage her self-confidence further, and it might be for the best to just let the entire season go for the long-term good. If a year spent with family and friends and other activities than skating makes Gold content and eager to skate again, it would be a good exchange for one lost season. Just my 2 cents...

 

[Moxiejan]

I don't think the problem is that she can't do triple jumps anymore. She's probably lost all confidence and doesn't even try? I hope she can get back to her old self some day, but to be honest, I'm losing hope.

If she doesn't have enough confidence to even try to do them, then the problem is indeed that she can't do them anymore.

 

[Barb]

If she doesn't have enough confidence to even try to do them, then the problem is indeed that she can't do them anymore.

But she looks happy. I think she already accepted her situation. She will do like Adelina, excuses with every pre-olympic competition, meanwhile her sponsors still get promotion at least in the preolympic stage.

 

[musicfan80]

Nobody can "drop" Gracie from the GP at this point. The only way she doesn't go to GPs is if she withdraws.

True! Other than Skate America, the USFS has no power when it comes to GP assignments.

Really? What about actually competing? I've always been under the impression that USFS required skaters to pass a monitoring session before doing ANY international competitions.

 

[mrrice]

Really? What about actually competing? I've always been under the impression that USFS required skaters to pass a monitoring session before doing ANY international competitions.

I don't think skaters are monitored unless they have been injured. I remember in 2006 when Michelle had missed Nationals because of a hip injury. She later test skated and made the team. Unfortunately, she reinjured her hip when she got to the games and was replaced at the last minute by Emily Hughes: Here's Terry Gannon talking about it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlL7H198mmQ

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

But she looks happy. I think she already accepted her situation. She will do like Adelina, excuses with every pre-olympic competition, meanwhile her sponsors still get promotion at least in the preolympic stage.

Looking and putting on a happy face for the audience or general public and actually being happy are two different things though.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Ic3Rabbit, please add me to the list of people who have been very interested to read your reports and greatly appreciate your taking the time to post. I hope you will reconsider and give us another update after the show tonight.

I would also be interested in a report from tonight. I appreciate you taking the time out to do so, especially when you're getting some heat for being the bearer of some possibly bad news.

Just unlurking to say that I very much appreciate your posts about Gracie. It's clear now why Lynn Rutherford did not sound optimistic about her in that podcast she did for IceNetwork. I have no idea what's going on with her but she does not look at all ready for elite competition.

Ic3Rabbit, You're the only poster who has any semblance of how Gracie is looking. Without you, we'd all be completely in the dark. Please don't stop posting your reports. Trust me, if Gracie skates well, we want to hear that too. However, I'd rather hear the truth than be shocked like I was over her Summer performances.

Thank you to Ic3Rabbit for posting the updates. I wish I saw anything to be positive about here. It's really hard to speculate about what's going on here, but I have to think Gracie's chances of turning in a successful season are very slim. If there was a chance that she would pull out of the funk she was in last year, there should have been a very considerable effort here. Hours and hours of nose to the grindstone work, and maybe a few updates here and there for her fans. I'm just not seeing that any of that is happening.
She's had some brilliant moments, for sure. And her accomplishments are nothing to sneeze at. I just truly hope at this point that Gracie the person finds what she loves and we see more from her either in competition or elsewhere.

I agree with mrrice, and I'd rather hear an honest and non-candycoated report. So thanks IceRabbit. And if she's hitting 3z-3t's all over the ice I'd be pleased to read that too. But it's always better to be prepared for a disaster.

Am I the only one who thinks that Gracie was given Nepala in a few weeks to test her out? And that if she bombs she will be dropped from the GP? I'd rather see more deserving skaters like Hicks get some GPs since she's been putting in the work this summer.

Ic3Rabbit, I appreciate hearing the reports you promised us in this thread. Thank you.

That is so sad to hear.

Editing to let you know I appreciate the reports, too. Thank you for posting

I think it's just that people who care about Gracie want to defend her. It's a shoot the messenger kind of thing.

I appreciate you and anyone who gives a first hand account. It requires effort and no one is obligated to put forth any effort for others.

Don't be discouraged.

Thanks for the reports. I appreciate the effort. Try not to take the less-than-kind responses too personally as it's clear they're still in the denial and anger part of the five stages of grief.

I just wanted to thank everyone quoted here for being so supportive of my posts/accounts of skating events etc here. I appreciate the outpouring of support more than you all will ever know and you are all the ones I do my reports for.

 

[Arriba627]

^^^A little late to the party but still want to thank you for your reports. Really appreciate you taking the time to do it.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

^^^A little late to the party but still want to thank you for your reports. Really appreciate you taking the time to do it.

 

[bevybean]

Actually... There's footage of Gracie doing axel half loop sal THE OTHER way... and it was clean, I think you were mistaken.https://www.instagram.com/p/BYRYkFNnCqq/?taken-by=superangiekatja

Questions for the experts about this (and I really do ask out of curiosity, not criticism): Why would Gracie do this? If she can't do triples the normal way, why spend time attempting jumps the other way?

Also, Ic3Rabbit, I too am grateful for your reports. As a Gracie fan, I feel better prepared for watching her this season knowing not to expect much. I also want to add appreciation for the knowledge you are willing to share in general.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Questions for the experts about this (and I really do ask out of curiosity, not criticism): Why would Gracie do this? If she can't do triples the normal way, why spend time attempting jumps the other way?

Also, Ic3Rabbit, I too am grateful for your reports. As a Gracie fan, I feel better prepared for watching her this season knowing not to expect much. I also want to add appreciation for the knowledge you are willing to share in general.

Because they were being silly on the ice. Nothing more than that.

Thank you.

 

[bevybean]

Because they were being silly on the ice. Nothing more than that.

Thank you.

Thanks! Silliness is important too!

 

[wagnerfan]

Can someone please explain what is going on re: TSL's recent tweets about Gracie? Pulled out of Senior B? What??

 

[jenaj]

The Rachael Flatt situation re Worlds was very different from the notion of USFS penalizing a skater re GPs.

Rachael's placement at Worlds would be a factor in how many slots U.S. ladies would earn for the following year's Worlds.

(And what happened is that U.S. ladies earned only two spots for the following year.)

If USFS had been informed in advance of Rachael's injury, it could have sent a healthy lady in her place to help make a go at three slots for the following year.

---

My sincere apologies to el henry and noskates that this thread continues to drift completely off topic from Champs Camp.

But I think that the point about Worlds slots being at stake is worth mentioning.
I would say that USFS has a responsibility to all its skaters to try to maximize the number of Worlds spots.

They could have sent Mirai, who was trained and ready according to her coach at the time, Frank Carroll. Ironic that Mirai is now being coached by Tom Z!

 

[theoreticalgirl]

A lot of coaches train their students to jump in the opposite direction to build/maintain proprioception. Learning to jump in both directions is typically taught in ISI.

 

[jenaj]

But she looks happy. I think she already accepted her situation. She will do like Adelina, excuses with every pre-olympic competition, meanwhile her sponsors still get promotion at least in the preolympic stage.

Adelina really doesn't need to pretend she is still in the mix. She is the Olympic Gold Medalist. That may not count for much here but it does in Russia. I'm sure she's not hurting for endorsement opportunities. I wouldn't write Gracie off, at least not yet.

 

[jenaj]

Questions for the experts about this (and I really do ask out of curiosity, not criticism): Why would Gracie do this? If she can't do triples the normal way, why spend time attempting jumps the other way?

Also, Ic3Rabbit, I too am grateful for your reports. As a Gracie fan, I feel better prepared for watching her this season knowing not to expect much. I also want to add appreciation for the knowledge you are willing to share in general.

She was probably just fooling around in practice. I have seen other skaters--Max, I think--try opposite direction jumps in practice. It's meaningless.