Gold is skating's bright new star

aftertherain · Jan 27, 2013

Gracie Gold makes an impression

Gracie Gold makes an impression with confidence, talent
Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports | 7:28p.m. EST January 27, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2013/01/27/gracie-gold-makes-impression-us-figure-skating-championships/1868265/

She joined two-time national champion Ashley Wagner and third-place finisher Agnes Zawadzki in a news conference after the long program, and soon was praising her competitors in her own unique way.

"I just want to congratulate these other two women because they are amazing and they push me," she said. "They skated great short programs and really good long programs and they deserve to be here with me."

What an interesting choice of words: "they deserve to be here with me." It was the first time Gold had been there herself, of course. But give the kid credit for saying what she thought, and giving us a window into what appears to be her enormously confident world.

There's an icy steeliness to Gold that is likely to dissipate over time, at least on the ice, as she becomes a more polished figure skater. Landing massive triple jumps is one thing, and she has mastered that skill. But she will have to skate more mature, sophisticated programs, and soon, if she wants to join the likes of returning Olympic champion Kim Yu-na, two-time world champion Mao Asada and reigning world champion Carolina Kostner, among others, as world and Olympic medal hopefuls. What's more, Wagner, who herself is tough as nails, has a more accomplished international resume than her younger American counterpart.

But you get the sense that Gold doesn't care about who is in her way, which, while it won't win many style points, could be a very good strategy to try to plow through the skating world.

This girl has potential and she knows it. :laugh:

Dragonlady · Jan 28, 2013

I just feel like Gracie is this year's sacrificial lamb: the talented young skater everyone builds up after Nationals, only to tear to shreds next season.

chuckm · Jan 28, 2013

That was Gracie last year, when she won Juniors. She's been ripped apart and shredded all season because she had a bad skate at SC. Never mind CoR, where she skated well, that didn't change a thing. Now, when she's delivered a brilliant FS at Nationals, she's still being blasted because she isn't as good as Tuktamysheva and Sotnikova, even though they've both been in the game two years longer than her. She isn't animated enough, she has bad programs, she marches, etc., etc., etc.

Posters always go after the ones on top. The same thing went on with Kwan even at the height of her career.

Dragonlady · Jan 28, 2013

I do remember last season when The Gold Standard piece by Hirsch was published, thinking "Poor kid".

Very few skaters come out and medal in their first GP event, fresh up from Juniors. Cohen didn't win a medal of any colour until her second GP event of her second full season on the circuit. Fans expect too much from these kids.

Taan · Jan 28, 2013

stunning pics and article!!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...er-2013-U-S-Figure-Skating-Championships.html

dorispulaski · Jan 28, 2013

It's amusing in a odd way that the video shown is of the Japanese broadcast of US Nationals. I'm hoping someone that understand Japanese will translate what the commentators are saying :bow:

please?

Reginald · Jan 28, 2013

It's interesting how the US has had a revolving door of who was the "best skater".

For the following calalnder years

2005 Michelle Kwan (She just won Nationals for the 8th straight year.)
2006 Sasha Cohen (The US's best medal hope for Turino, even counting Michelle Kwan)
2007 Kimmie Meissner (She was a woman among girls.)
2008 Caroline Zhang (although she didn't win nationals. She was largely perceived as the US's best skater because of her star factor.)
2009 Rachel Flatt (Her 5th place skate at worlds was impressive, and she was Ms. Consistency)
2010 Mirai Nagasu (For a while, people on GS were saying that she was the only US skater that had the potential to win Worlds)
2011 Alissa Czisny She had a streak of great placements from the 2010 Grand Prix Series through the 2012 Nationals.
2012 Ashley Wagner Like Alissa, here struggles started at the Grand Prix Final and continued into Nationals.
2013 Gracie Gold

Any comments/suggestions?

cinnamon · Jan 28, 2013

dorispulaski said:
It's amusing in a odd way that the video shown is of the Japanese broadcast of US Nationals. I'm hoping someone that understand Japanese will translate what the commentators are saying please?

They are saying that after 3-2-2 finally Gracie showed her first smile. They praised her speed and hight of her jumps. And a 17-year-old with huge potential finally came out from America.

To improve her expression and transition, I would say she should get some new choreo, like Zoueva or Wilson. Especially Zoueva helped Gracie lately, and also she improved Japan's Kanako a lot.

Btw, is it only me thinking those young girls wear too much make-ups on the ice nowadays?

FSGMT · Jan 28, 2013

Reginald said:
It's interesting how the US has had a revolving door of who was the "best skater".

For the following calalnder years

2005 Michelle Kwan (She just won Nationals for the 8th straight year.)
2006 Sasha Cohen (The US's best medal hope for Turino, even counting Michelle Kwan)
2007 Kimmie Meissner (She was a woman among girls.)
2008 Caroline Zhang (although she didn't win nationals. She was largely perceived as the US's best skater because of her star factor.)
2009 Rachel Flatt (Her 5th place skate at worlds was impressive, and she was Ms. Consistency)
2010 Mirai Nagasu (For a while, people on GS were saying that she was the only US skater that had the potential to win Worlds)
2011 Alissa Czisny She had a streak of great placements from the 2010 Grand Prix Series through the 2012 Nationals.
2012 Ashley Wagner Like Alissa, here struggles started at the Grand Prix Final and continued into Nationals.
2013 Gracie Gold

Any comments/suggestions?

Interesting analysis, I agree that in the last year the US ladies have been so unsettled: just two years ago, Alissa was seen as a potential 2014 Sochi medalist, now a lot of people suggest her retirement, the same for Rachael and Mirai, what a strange field...

jatale · Jan 28, 2013

Gracie's LP was spectacular, no doubt about it. Everything in the program was wonderful, jumps, spins, and footwork all there. In jumping she is amazing, right up there with Yuna Kim, and that is saying something. She still needs polishing and maturity in her presentation, but she is as good or better than any of the Russian wonderbabies are now IMO. The coming 2013 Worlds competition is shaping up to be a real exciting one for the ladies.

ForeverFish · Jan 28, 2013

FSGMT said:
Interesting analysis, I agree that in the last year the US ladies have been so unsettled: just two years ago, Alissa was seen as a potential 2014 Sochi medalist, now a lot of people suggest her retirement, the same for Rachael and Mirai, what a strange field...

Good thing Gracie's still young

She has many more years of skating ahead of her.

chuckm · Jan 28, 2013

Alissa will be 26 in June, and she's had two surgeries on the same hip within the last 6 months. It does seem as if her skating career is over. Mirai will be 20 in April, and isn't over the hill just yet. She is young enough to rework her jump technique to ensure her jumps are fully rotated. The question is whether she is willing to do the hard work to get it done.

Layfan · Jan 28, 2013

chuckm said:
Alissa will be 26 in June, and she's had two surgeries on the same hip within the last 6 months. It does seem as if her skating career is over. Mirai will be 20 in April, and isn't over the hill just yet. She is young enough to rework her jump technique to ensure her jumps are fully rotated. The question is whether she is willing to do the hard work to get it done.

I have a feeling that if Alissa can recover from her injury will try to go for it next year because it's in Olympic year even thought it's a looooooooooooong shot. Especially if Ashley and Gold don't do well at worlds (let's hope not!) then the field is sort of still open for the Olympic spots and Alissa might figure, what the heck. She's so badly wants to not end her career on a bad note.

Mirai is in skating jail right now. But others have been there and come back so I agree it's not over for her.

I'm excited for Gold's career. Fingers crossed.

mskater93 · Jan 28, 2013

flutzy13 said:
I think they were a tad inflated on the PCS end. I thought the program was maybe 127-128 but the judges were trying to pull her up after the free skate. That said, she was head and shoulders above everyone in the FS and deserved her silver completely so it wasn't any huge controversy.

She scored a 58 PCS at Rostelecom Cup (GP) with some errors in the FS, so why not a 61 for a squeaky clean performance with attack and fire? She was rightfully dropped in the transition score in comparison to the rest of her PCS marks.

mskater93 · Jan 28, 2013

BravesSkateFan said:
Then how do you explain the jump from PCS's in the 6's to PCS's in the 7's & 8's?

Because she went from skating scared to attacking.

Icey · Jan 28, 2013

Dragonlady said:
I just feel like Gracie is this year's sacrificial lamb: the talented young skater everyone builds up after Nationals, only to tear to shreds next season.

I feel the same way, DL. Her star will dim and if SHE (as if it were her sole responsibility) doesn't bring back 3 Olympic spots, the shredder will start a grinding.

Re her statement in the Brennan article regarding the two other medalists deserving to be there with her. If Ashley had said something like that, the attacks would have been rampant. Ashley who? lol Gold has somewhat licked the icing off Ashely's cake for the moment.

Re the jump in her pcs scores from short to long: the same thing happened with Max.

CoyoteChris · Jan 28, 2013

Ref: "I just want to congratulate these other two women because they are amazing and they push me," she said. "They skated great short programs and really good long programs and they deserve to be here with me."
I just wanted to say you all deserve to be on this forum with me.... :laugh:

Sometimes we say things that dont come out just right. I do it all the time. :slink:

As far as Gracie's PCSs, to Quote Mr.Pirsig, "Quality in thought and deed is , "Just what you like."
Take away "cute" and all Tara L. had was tricks she could do due to being 73 lbs.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Jan 28, 2013

This hype is ridiculous pressure on her. There are people who would have torn her to shreds after the SP, and then glorified her after her comeback FS.

Based on talent and consistency, Gold is the real deal. She is one of the only US skaters capable of 3F-3T and 3Z-3T, and she has already cemented a win on the GP circuit this year. I knew she would climb in the standings in the FS, but didn't expect it to be by that much. That being said, not only did she skate brilliantly, several skaters above her faltered, which is what she needed to make Worlds. She's very talented and the expectations on her are considerable. She should place top 10 at Worlds, though, I'm predicting.

As far as bringing back 3 spots to the US olympic team, I don't understand why people put pressure on that. It's not like the 3rd spot would have a vastly greater chance at making the podium - it would just be another entry. If anything the 3rd spot makes it less pressure on herself to place in the top 2 at next year's Nationals - which I believe she will, barring injury or something like that.

Olympia · Jan 28, 2013

CoyoteChris said:
Ref: "I just want to congratulate these other two women because they are amazing and they push me," she said. "They skated great short programs and really good long programs and they deserve to be here with me."
I just wanted to say you all deserve to be on this forum with me....
Sometimes we say things that dont come out just right. I do it all the time.
As far as Gracie's PCSs, to Quote Mr.Pirsig, "Quality in thought and deed is , "Just what you like."
Take away "cute" and all Tara L. had was tricks she could do due to being 73 lbs.

And we rejoice in the honor, Chris!

Seriously, though, I think you're right about stuff that comes out of our mouths that we meant in an entirely different way. How good were any of us at saying the appropriate thing when we were seventeen years old? And with cameras and microphones from all over the world trained on us? Forget it! I'd have shamed myself for life three or four times a week.

I love your evaluation of Tara. For some years I was terrified that from 1998 on, skating judges would so value the sprite factor that we'd end up with a bunch of "senior" skaters who had amazingly rapid (but tiny) jumps for about six months, during which time they would win Worlds, skating to Smurf music, and then would grow to human size and have to retire at fifteen and a half. Thank goodness for Michelle, Irina, and Maria Butyrskaya, who kept that from happening.

noskates · Jan 28, 2013

Olympia - I love your comment:

I love your evaluation of Tara. For some years I was terrified that from 1998 on, skating judges would so value the sprite factor that we'd end up with a bunch of "senior" skaters who had amazingly rapid (but tiny) jumps for about six months, during which time they would win Worlds, skating to Smurf music, and then would grow to human size and have to retire at fifteen and a half. Thank goodness for Michelle, Irina, and Maria Butyrskaya, who kept that from happening.

I am really looking forward to watching Gracie in the future. I hope that she can resurrect whatever mindset pushed her in that long program. Her jumps are beautiful - or as Sandra Bezic said, "Olympic gold medal quality!" I think with another year of maturing and hopefully a great choreographed program......she could pass Ashley! Heresy some of you may say, but she's charming, adorable, skates with more speed and just looks like she's having fun out there. Taking nothing away from what Ashley has accomplished, I find her programs almost too robotic sometimes. She's all business! I like the joyfulness that Gracie exhibited in her lp.

Gold is skating's bright new star

aftertherain

Dragonlady

chuckm

Dragonlady

Taan

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

Reginald

Match Penalty

cinnamon

FSGMT

jatale

ForeverFish

chuckm

Layfan

mskater93

mskater93

Icey

CoyoteChris

CanadianSkaterGuy

Olympia

noskates

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