Gracie Gold set to return

[MrSatterwhite]

I'm happy to know Gracie is coming back to competition.

I'm not happy this thread went from a lighthearted "Good luck Gracie, nice to see you back" thread to this toxic wasteland in just one page. And I see there are posters who are happy to derail the thread even further to discuss some topics totally unrelated to Gracie herself. Bummer.

 

[skateboy]

I'm happy to know Gracie is coming back to competition.

I'm not happy this thread went from a lighthearted "Good luck Gracie, nice to see you back" thread to this toxic wasteland in just one page. And I see there are posters who are happy to derail the thread even further to discuss some topics totally unrelated to Gracie herself. Bummer.

Indeed.

 

[aftershocks]

Yes, and I've surely taken part in the derailing, but only in response to more egregious perpetrators. Yep, all the OT blather should be taken to appropriate threads, as I've suggested more than once. Indeed.

But this thread is certainly no different in the rambling OT activity than most other threads we often open expecting on topic convo, and come away wondering what thread we are in.

 

[Tavi]

So according to this tweet by the guy who first reported that Gracie was working with Vincent Restencourt, she’s working on triple-triples. Fingers crossed for her!

https://mobile.twitter.com/jacobskate633/status/1018972354683301889?s=21

 

[aftershocks]

I am a Canadian and we have been heartbroken with many decisions on our skaters over the years.

Alas, Canadians do not have a monopoly on heartbreak. And coincidentally that comment doesn't seem too off-topic in this thread.

But onward and upward! Just as Canadians have much to be proud of, so do Gracie fans, regardless of what happens in her return. It will be great seeing her in the mix again, and above all seeing her skate happy without carrying heavy burdens on her shoulders.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Osmond is a similar skater who can effortlessly match her on her best qualities. However, Osmond is now better than her in TR and IN for sure...and comparable on CH.

That was my first thought: when she's on, Gold has many similar qualities to Osmond. Although they have had a similar weakness for cascading mistakes, which I hope Osmond overcame last season for good, Osmond has always come across as a natural performer, and the last time she registered stress for any amount of time was at Nationals when she came in third and looked so frustrated. I hope Gold can overcome that with her comeback.

 

[Madhatter]

The judges dont love her that much though. Her short program in Pyeongcheng was arguably better than Medvedeva and Zagitova, and she finished many points behind both.

"Many points" is just 4 points, which 2.5 Zagitova had advantage of from base value alone. But that should tell you how much judges love Medvedeva and Zagitova. And other Eteri-trained girls, probably.

So no, I don't think even a clean Gracie has a snowball's chance in hell with either of the three of them when they're clean too.

Edit: that said, this season Osmond is sitting out, Med is likely to be reworking some of her technique under the new coach so results are uncertain, and Zag is reportedly struggling with an Osgood-Shlatter disease. If Gracie gets to her former form, who knows, her greatest competition might be the Japanese.

 

[antmanb]

The most important thing to remember in this thread is that the JudgeJudy Pseud is trolling for reactions and is the real winner in this comeback thread

 

[aftershocks]

JudgeJudy busted again, but not before pulling posters legs once again, including mine, rather soundly.

What's the record by now? Much less, what's the f'ing relief? JudgeJudy has compiled more FSU pseuds than a Russian hacker trolling cyberspace for Putin.

 

[moebius]

" Med is likely to be reworking some of her technique under the new coach so results are uncertain

Shades of Mao. Hope Med's outcome is better than Mao's.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ Med never suffered poor marks from the judges for her weak technique.

ETA:
The judges have always been kind to Med, so unless she makes egregious errors, I can't see them going south on her. I also don't see Med not being able to make a successful transition with reworked technique. She made the move to Orser because she accepts that she needs to improve.

It was courageous of Mao to take time off and relearn everything. There was a period of adjustment for Mao when she came back with reworked technique. However, Mao did enjoy some success in her comeback before age/injury took it's toll.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Zag is reportedly struggling with an Osgood-Shlatter disease.

Oh, that's awful, if that's true...

 

[AxelAnnie]

I hope Zags is smart about the Osgood Schlatter. It can be treated with rest, ice, stretching the quads and NSAIDs.
But it is going to hurt like hell if she doesn't take care of her bod.

 

[aftershocks]

That's sad to hear. It's happened to the growing bones of a number of figure skaters, including Nathan Chen. Zagitova should follow her doctor's orders and take good care of herself, which I think means not overdoing any bone-breaking training in the off-season. At least she already has Olympic gold...

 

[rhapsody]

^^ Those whiny debates need to be taken to a Trash Can thread entitled: "Canadian skaters always screwed over! Nevermind Canadians won recent Olympic team gold!



ETA:
-- Not to mention current Olympic gold medalists in ice dance: Virtue/Moir; Olympic bronze medalists in pairs: Duhamel/Radford; Olympic bronze medalist in ladies: Kaetlyn Osmond; World gold medalist in ladies: Kaetlyn Osmond; World bronze medalists in ice dance: Weaver/Poje; unexpected sixth place at Worlds in pairs: Moore-Towers/Marinaro; plus 2017 World silver and bronze medalists in ladies: Kaetlyn Osmond & Gabby Daleman

What a sad thing it is to be a Canadian figure skating fan.

Don't forget Patrick Chan and his string of undeserved World titles. I can't believe Skate Canada's political game is so weak.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ There's no question that Patrick deserved to win his 2011 World title. He had a chance to win in 2009, but flubbed it with a minor mistake on the ice, and major foot-in-mouth disease off the ice. I believe that Denis Ten deserved to win in 2013, and Dai Takahashi deserved to win a second crown in 2012. But then, the medal record stands as is for all time. Nothing to be done about it, except debate endlessly as figure skating fans.

If we look back in history, there are obviously a lot of controversial medal wins that can be debated.

 

[Rock2]

* scrolls back up to the top of the thread, wondering which one I accidentally wandered in to while looking for Gracie updates *

#twilightzone

 

[savchenkoboss]

Don't forget Patrick Chan and his string of undeserved World titles. I can't believe Skate Canada's political game is so weak.

Patrick deserved all his titles. His supreme skating skills, complex choreography, and quality of his elements, made up for his mistakes, and usually his competitors made mistakes too. Now I would agree if Denis Ten were a relatively big name he probably would have won the 2013 worlds, but reality is he was an unknown at the time and the same thing would have happened to him had it been say Takahashi doing Chan's exact skates instead most likely. Not completely fair, but if we are being realistic, always likely.

 

[aftershocks]

Oh well, back to Gracie, since that is what's on-topic. TSL weighed in, cautioning over-expectations, but whatever. I think most people realize it takes a lot to come back after a break. It's up to Gracie to do what makes her happy. And if she feels ready to return, it's up to her.

Fans definitely should be reasonable with their expectations, and try to enjoy the process. As mentioned earlier here, this will be a different Gracie and we should give her a chance to regain her sea legs.

 

[Madhatter]

Patrick deserved all his titles. His supreme skating skills, complex choreography, and quality of his elements, made up for his mistakes, and usually his competitors made mistakes too. Now I would agree if Denis Ten were a relatively big name he probably would have won the 2013 worlds, but reality is he was an unknown at the time and the same thing would have happened to him had it been say Takahashi doing Chan's exact skates instead most likely. Not completely fair, but if we are being realistic, always likely.

So the reason why Patrick Chan won was because he was a big name. Yeah, a deserved title. Completely. 110%.

 

[Frau Muller]

Every competition Gracie enters is hers to win or lose. Medvedeva, Zagitova, Osmond even know they have no hope against a clean Gracie. I hope that reality does not put too much pressure on her and cause her to implode. Even past U.S greats like Kwan, Cohen, Yamaguchi, Kerrigan did not have that pressure. Kwan and Cohen could both skate clean and still lose to a clean Slutskaya or even a clean Arakawa (and Lipinski too for Kwan), Yamaguchi could skate clean and lose if Ito or Harding hit their triple axel, a clean Kerrigan could still lose to a ton of people. Thomas could skate perfectly and easily lose to a clean Witt still. Hamill and Fratianne could have a perfect competition and lose just due to figures deficits. Gold has the immense pressure of knowing every event she enters, Worlds, Nationals, Olympics, Grand Prix final, regular grand prix, is in her own hands, and she alone decides if she places 1st or somewhere other than 1st. Even with years away that pressure which no U.S skater has had since maybe Peggy Fleming has probably not subsided.

We have no idea how GG will compete, given her new physique. Let’s hope that she is 100% healthy and happy, then let the chips fall where they may.

 

[vesperholly]

Interesting that Gracie got the Skate America invite. She must be looking good in training to the monitors, or they wouldn't have assigned her.

Edit: Nevermind, I read a post on another thread wrong.

 

[feraina]

Interesting that Gracie got the Skate America invite. She must be looking good in training to the monitors, or they wouldn't have assigned her.

Where did you see that?

 

[vesperholly]

Where did you see that?

I misread another post. Mea culpa.

 

[kittysk8ts]

Well, the Twitterverse is reporting that her SP is "I put a Spell on You".

What do we think?

It's a new beginning and I am going to give it a chance. I just want her to enjoy herself as much as possible.

 

[peibeck]

Well, the Twitterverse is reporting that her SP is "I put a Spell on You".

What do we think?

It's a new beginning and I am going to give it a chance. I just want her to enjoy herself as much as possible.

I think I should watch with earplugs. If she does it with a Leonava-esque witchy outfit I might be more interested.

 

[Willin]

I think it could be very interesting. It's very different than anything she's done in the past musically (whether it be T-Swift exhibition programs or tango or classical princess music) and certainly is a bold choice. I think Gracie's ice princess programs were awful on her, so I'll be excited to see her attempt a darker choice. If she's able to bring the sass she showed on twitter during Nationals to the ice this season I think this could be a great choice.

Depending on the arrangement and choreography I think this could either be a hot mess or amazing. I hope it's amazing.

 

[WillyElliot]

Gracie would have to do what Kaetlyn did in 2016-2017 and build herself up with a standout program or two and some overall decent skating. Katelyn was never perfect but thanks in large part to the success of her SP and the consistency she had with that program, she was able to position herself well enough in the SP to land on the podium with a half-decent FS. The rest of it had to do with the fact Kaetlyn's overall skating (skating skills, transitions, spins, interpretation, etc.) is very strong and the jumps she did land were incredible compared to the field.

I wonder if GG saw KO's season last year and watching her get an Oly medal and become World Champion and thought she could definitely get back in shape and compete like a KO (always a mistake or two or more but strong skating). KO has to have given lots of girls the idea that they could also be a World champ and Olympic medalist.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Well, the Twitterverse is reporting that her SP is "I put a Spell on You".

What do we think?

It's a new beginning and I am going to give it a chance. I just want her to enjoy herself as much as possible.

Im giving her a pass on everything this season.

Just glad to see her skate.

I hope she is well and things progress nicely!!

 

[screech]

Well, the Twitterverse is reporting that her SP is "I put a Spell on You".

What do we think?

It's a new beginning and I am going to give it a chance. I just want her to enjoy herself as much as possible.

I sincerely hope it's the Bette Midler version! lol

But in any case, it sounds like a nice departure from 'the usual' for her, and I hope more passion comes through from her. I'm wishing her all the best in her return!