Rachael Flatt out for rest of the 2012-2013 season

[Capella]

Per IceNetwork

"I will focus on getting healthy while pursuing my academic goals."

I truly hope she is able to achieve both.

[Jeschke]

Per IceNetwork

I truly hope she is able to achieve both.

although i never was a a rachael fan, i hope this will not be the end of her competetive career and we will see her one more time.
her stellar short from the 2011 nationals are one of my all time favourites.

hope she achieves all she longes to.

[centerstage01]

Here's wishing Rachel best wishes in her recovery! Chronic injuries can't be much fun so I hope she'll finally be able to move around without pain.

[Bournekraatzfan]

Here's wishing Rachel best wishes in her recovery! Chronic injuries can't be much fun so I hope she'll finally be able to move around without pain.

+1

wishing her much academic success, as well

[skatesindreams]

I wish Rachael a full recovery; and the very best in whatever she does.
If she wishes to compete again, I hope she will be able to do so.

[Rottie]

Glad she's focusing on getting healthy. That really is the most important thing.

[lulu]

Speedy recovery Rachael!
Best of luck to her at Standford as well, and I hope that she's able to compete next season.

I will focus on getting healthy while pursuing my academic goals. I am saddened that I will miss out on this season, but I feel it is my responsibility to take care of my general well-being. I hope to make a full recovery. I wish the very best for all the other skaters this season."

[MysticHaze]

Best of luck to Rachael with her studies at Stanford! Enjoy the college experience girl!

[julieann]

I hope she recovers and enjoys Stanford!

[overedge]

Wow, she sure skated well at Skate America despite being injured. I too hope that that was not the last time we see her in competition.

[victoriaheidi]

I'm wishing her all the best for a speedy recovery and success in whichever path she chooses in the future--whether she comes back or becomes a full-time college student and successful doctor/engineer/anything.

[Jessica]

Get healthy Rachael and enjoy college.

[Wyliefan]

Best wishes to her!

[peibeck]

I concur that getting healthy is the best things she can do; her body has to last a lot longer than her skating career. In the meantime, I hope she can enjoy the rest of her semester at Stanford.

[carriemarie]

I honestly think this is the end of her competitive career. Why bow out of Nationals over two months beforehand? Tendonitis isn't that serious, although it is recurring. It's not like she was an unmitigated disaster at SA. She just is obviously not at the top of her game due to growth, school, and training issues. She has nothing left to accomplish. She is a National Champion, World and Olympic team member and Grand Prix medalist. She has had a lovely career. Best of luck, Rachael!

[judgejudy27]

I figured she would want to go to one last Nationals and say goodbye there. I am surprised she isnt. As you said one wouldnt think her injury is too bad to not skate at Nationals. Next year she would need to qualify for Nationals, and likely would be hard pressed to do that. Maybe she felt saying goodbye at an international event was a good way to go out, and also figured this past Nationals was a great way to go out there, which makes sense.

[RD]

Smart move. She was obviously pushing too hard and needed to take some time off. Actually she should have probably taken the whole season off...

In any case, IMHO this is basically a retirement announcement without the word "retire" in it - because chances are we never see her competing again.

[carriemarie]

I figured she would want to go to one last Nationals and say goodbye there. I am surprised she isnt. As you said one wouldnt think her injury is too bad to not skate at Nationals. Next year she would need to qualify for Nationals, and likely would be hard pressed to do that. Maybe she felt saying goodbye at an international event was a good way to go out, and also figured this past Nationals was a great way to go out there, which makes sense.

I had strong feelings that this would be her last season, but I was thinking she would retire after Nationals. It is very clear that she has new priorities and, good for her, there is more to life than skating. She also has accomplished more than most could even dream of. The sport has moved past her and she has moved on from the sport. It happens, but I am suprised she didn't take one last chance at Nationals or maybe told USFSA that she was injured before SA, so another girl could get her spot.

[RockTheTassel]

Good for her for being attentive to her health and future goals. I hope she has a stellar year outside of figure skating.

[kwanfan1818]

Wow, she sure skated well at Skate America despite being injured. I too hope that that was not the last time we see her in competition.

Although she simplified her programs as much as she needed to, she did skate well: she received a total of two individual -1 GOE scores in her FS and got between 0.00 and .47 GOE on all of her elements, and in her SP, got the mandatory - GOE on doubling the triple jump and -.15 on her layback spin. (Of the nine women who finished ahead of her in the SP, four had -GOE on two elements, all with more total -GOE than Flatt, and four had one element with -GOE; only GAO went clean with +GOE on all of her elements and no individual -GOEs.)

I wouldn't have guess injury, but lack of training time, since she looked so solid.

The other interesting thing about her performance was that her spins and footwork were relatively short, yet in each program she got one L3 spin, L2 footwork, and she only got one L1 in the SP and the mandatory L1 CH sequence in the FS, so all of the women who tie themselves into pretzels and sabotage their spins with speed-killing Biellmanns might take note and consider going for a L2 spin that doesn't sap their energy and that they can do cleanly instead of a L3 spin that lasts forever.