Is Gracie Gold as good as Yuna Kim or Mao Asada when they were her age?

[figurejennah]

Is Gracie Gold as good as Michelle Kwan, Yuna Kim, Mao Asada when they were her age?

I was so shocked to see her get over 200 in Nationals. Yes, it's Nationals, but I wonder since when it became so common and easy for female skaters to break 200 mark. (I think Yuna was the first female skater ever to break the official 200 mark at the 2009 worlds?) Everyone breaks that 200 mark so easily these days!

This is Yuna's record breaking performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUPli-YWzWw

So, now that Gracie Gold is the rising golden child for the US, is she really that good? Compared to Yuna Kim or Mao Asada when they were 17, or 18, is she at that level?

I was personally shocked when I saw Yuna's 2007 world championship debut SP - tango de roxanne. How old was she... 16?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCAsSGgFWc

And then there was Mao..... I personally LOVED her 2007 world championship LP- personally, her PRETTIEST costume, and love her energy in this program. (Mao also was 16 I think)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRXtt3muHGE


I was too young to follow Michelle Kwan's performances.... but I know how terrifically fantastic she is and watched many of her performances. Just to match that 16 years old mark that I initially mentioned, I brought Kwan's performance when she was 16. Kwan's stage presence is just so... marvelous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKmUW8wPB0s

Gracie is now 18, so if you compared her to Yuna, Mao, Kwan when they wre 18... uh...........



I think Gracie Gold is so beautiful. She actually looks like Disney's sleeping beauty's princess... lol. I can see why she is so loved. However, I don't know if she is really as good as all these commentators praise her to be. It's just my honest personal opinion, so please don't hate me... but even when compared to when Yuna, Kwan, and Mao at 16, she's not as good as them. Do I want her to medal? YES!!!! that would be kinda cool, but that medal color better not be gold. lol I don't see how she's that much better than Mirai Nagasu or even Ashley Wagner... Personally, I really really enjoyed Mirai's nationals performance when she broke that record at that time... 72 I think. (I can't remember which nationals it was, so I have to look it up). I don't know what happened to Rachel Flatt, but ... I don't see anything about Gracie surpassing any of them significantly.




Am I being overly critical?

 

[icedinn]

no.

 

[elee63]

Hah. Short and sweet. And true.

 

[Gigi13]

Well at the age eighteen, Yuna won the gpf twice, 2 time world bronze medalist, and a world champion and medaled in every grand prix event before she turned nineteen, Mao won gpf twice, gpf silver medalist, worlds silver medalist, worlds champion medaled at every grand prix event and the lowest placement she had was fourth at worlds 2009 before she turned nineteen. So no Gracie is not as good as Yuna or Mao.

 

[tulosai]

no.

That.

 

[figurejennah]

Ok, then why are these commentators and public saying that Gracie has a shot at winning gold...? Does she actually have a shot? I was so confused to hear them praising her like she's the best skater everrrr! I know that Yuna and Mao are much older (yes, sadly now they are at the old age for skating... sigh), but how could she be that much of a threat to them? I know Mao has been inconsistent, but she's not thhhhhhhhhhat bad. Yuna's new LP is not my favorite (I wanted her music to be a little more dramatic), but she's really not that much worse than her 2010 olympics condition AND she won the worlds last year with phenomenal performances. If these are at a different level, it's just really puzzling to see people putting Gracie in the same league.

 

[tulosai]

Ok, then why are these commentators and public saying that Gracie has a shot at winning gold...? Does she actually have a shot?

She has a shot ONLY if the following skaters ALL make at least 1 big mistake and she makes NO mistakes:

-Yuna Kim (in reality can probably make 2 big mistakes, maybe even more)
-Mao Asada (in reality can probably make 2 big mistakes)
-Carolina Kostner
-Akiko Suzuki

And probably also would need the following skaters to make 1 mistake as well because they will get higher PCS than her if all skate cleanish(I am NOT taking a stance on if they deserve higher PCS, I am stating a fact)
-Julia Lipnitskaia
-Adelina Sotnikova

Additionally, at this time, Nationals was a fluke for Gracie in terms of skating cleanish. While she may have her consistency problems under control, before nationals she had never skated anything RESEMBLING a clean SP and LP in the same competition. Julia is far more likely to go clean than she is, as is Yuna.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Ok, then why are these commentators and public saying that Gracie has a shot at winning gold...?

It's called hype. Last Olympics, neither Flatt nor Nagasu were slated to win gold. Now people are hoping Gold will get it together, which she certainly can, even though she has yet to skate clean.

And to answer the thread, no. But I don't hold it against her. I don't get why people are all hung up about "Well, at her age, so-and-so had these many titles... and by his age, so-and-so was landing quads."

Why do people care about age? Skaters do well and do poorly at varying ages. Some are late bloomers, some burnt out early.

 

[tulosai]

IWhy do people care about age? Skaters do well and do poorly at varying ages. Some are late bloomers, some burnt out early.

:thumbsup: Agree with this as well.

 

[PftJump]

Yuna performed Danse Macabre at her age.

End of discussion.

 

[sky_fly20]

she moved into seniors a little late
but in terms of ability, skills she is as good as Kim and Mao

 

[louisa05]

Yuna performed Danse Macabre at her age.

End of discussion.

Exactly.

Until Gracie has more than one competition with two strong skates, I'm not going to crown her the next great thing in ladies skating. And she has a ways to go in developing artistry to go with the technical side.

 

[RABID]

Yuna performed Danse Macabre at her age.

End of discussion.

Now why would you want to be such a spoilsport? I'm sure it would have been fun.

 

[CarneAsada]

she moved into seniors a little late
but in terms of ability, skills she is as good as Kim and Mao

At Gracie's age, Mao had 2 triple Axels per FS and a 3Flip-3Loop combination. Yuna was regularly beating Mao. Tell me how Gracie can match that.

 

[Ven]

Gracie moved into seniors a little late
but in terms of ability, skills she is as good as Kim and Mao

lol

Sky this should be your signature every time you post, that way we all know.

 

[figurejennah]

Now why would you want to be such a spoilsport? I'm sure it would have been fun.

Oh yes she was 18 then. I forgot. lol

At Gracie's age, Mao had 2 triple Axels per FS and a 3Flip-3Loop combination. Yuna was regularly beating Mao. Tell me how Gracie can match that.

Yea, I don't see how Gracie is as good as Yuna and Mao. I am glad to see that I wasn't wrong... I just felt so confused lol. Because to me, Yuna, Mao, and Kwan are rare talents and they skate in their own league........ It was such a great pleasure and privilege to watch Yuna and Mao skate against each other. How fun was that.

 

[OS]

Well she is clearly the better juggler. Everyone else are amateurs!

 

[hippomoomin]

Gracie is not as good as Mao or Yuna at the same age. But that does not affect how far a skater can go. Some just peak earlier and some later. I say Gracie has the potential to reach the heigh of Yuna.

 

[Ven]

Yeah it's not fair to Gracie or any other skater to compare, skaters get better and worse at different ages. Look at Suzuki! Then look at Tara Lipinski.

Besides, she just won her national championship and gets to go to the Olympics. Kind of a low blow to immediately compare her to the greatest of all-time.

 

[sky_fly20]

Oh yes she was 18 then. I forgot. lol



Yea, I don't see how Gracie is as good as Yuna and Mao. I am glad to see that I wasn't wrong... I just felt so confused lol. Because to me, Yuna, Mao, and Kwan are rare talents and they skate in their own league........ It was such a great pleasure and privilege to watch Yuna and Mao skate against each other. How fun was that.

so you created this threat to make a statement that Gracie isn't as good Mao/Yuna/Michelle ?
a bit trolling thread there if you ask me