U.S. J U NIOR CHAMPION – L ADIE S
by AMBER GIBSON R
ed lips, eyeliner, houndstooth suitcase and a $500 red-orange silk Hermès scarf. It’s just another day at the rink for Gracie Gold.
No, Gold doesn’t normally sport designer accessories on the ice, but today is scarf day. She purchased this one, her first Hermès scarf, with prize money from the World Team Trophy, at the airport on her way home from Tokyo. Teme days are just one way the girls at the rink have fun in between tough workouts. “Tuesday was Hunger Games day,” Gold says.
“Most of us are obsessed. I’m rereading the series for the third time.” Tey even play an elaborate Te Hunger Games–style hide-and-go-seek tag be- fore off-ice training in the late afternoon. “Usually five to nine people play,” Gold says. “People are zipping in and out, all over the place.” Like every athlete, she watches her diet, but
doesn’t hesitate to eat a slice of confetti cake that a fellow skater baked, before her pole harness lesson. Te pole harness helps Gold practice a triple Axel. Since undergoing the University of Delaware’s 3D analysis and simulation program at the end of April, Gold knows she should be capable of land- ing a triple Axel, since she can clear 18 inches on her double Axel, just on the cusp of the required height to clear the triple jump. “I like that they can show you what would
have happened if you pulled your arms in tighter,” Gold says. “Or if your leg was turned in more or if you opened or closed your hips, or even if you turned your head just a little.” She’ll be making her senior Grand Prix Series
debut at Skate Canada, followed by the Rostele- com Cup in Russia. Gold will still have to skate at regionals, but she would get a bye for sectionals, since it coincides with her second Grand Prix as- signment. Tis year, Gold will debut two new programs,
both choreographed by Scott Brown. Inspired by Sasha Cohen’s “Hernando’s Hideaway” exhibition program, Gold thought the music would be a fun and sassy choice for her short. She’s planning to do a triple flip-triple toe in her short program, and for her solo jump, she’s working on an Ina Bauer into a “Tano” triple Lutz, with one hand above her head.
“We’re really working on PCS (program components score) and my transitions a lot, too,” Gold says. “We worked really hard on my foot- work. Level 4 would be great, but a Level 3 mini- mum.” Her free skate will be to the Life is Beautiful
soundtrack. “In my long, we decided to take a slower
pace,” Gold says. “We’re going for the love sto- ry aspect. Te beginning’s really sweet, then the marching part is at a happy upbeat step, and it has a really powerful ending.” She hopes to have powerful jumps to match.
Gold is practicing a triple Lutz-triple toe combi- nation as well as a triple flip-half loop-triple Sal- chow sequence. Gold plans to wear her hair in a French braid
for her free skate, with an elegant, royal blue dress. “Nothing super dramatic,” she says. “We wanted it to be lovely and simple.” Alex Ouriashev, Gold’s coach, has never tak- en a skater to the Olympics, and he believes Gold may be his first. Ouriashev says the transition to seniors is of utmost importance for his pupil. “We work on mature skating this year, that’s
our number one goal,” he says. “Even with the same jumps and same body, going to seniors is a big difference. You’re a mature senior skater or a beautiful junior skater. Sometimes it takes one year and sometimes five years for the transition. But we don’t have that time.” Ouriashev isn’t worried about Gold, though. “She has the right package of jumps and
spins and now she just needs more experience with international competition.” With his tough off-ice summer regimen of endurance and strength training, Ouriashev is confident Gold can go the distance. “All I beg is just avoid any injuries or health
problems,” he says. For four years now, Gold has traveled to Cen-
ter Ice of DuPage and Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills to work with Ouriashev. Two years ago, their family rented an apartment to reduce the stress of travel. Tis summer, they’re renting a house and have three other girls staying with them, friends coming to train with Ouriashev for a few months. “He’s a great technical coach,” says Gold’s
mother, Denise. “He has a magic eye. His off-ice is very aggressive. Nobody likes doing it. He pushes, pushes, pushes. And he especially pushes Gracie.” Gold and her twin sister, Carly, didn’t start
skating at a training center with the U.S. Figure Skating program. “I never thought when they were little that they would be athletes,” Denise Gold says. “I thought they would be scholars.” Te sisters have taken the ACTs and will ap- ply to college this year, but Gracie will likely defer for a year to pursue skating. Even though she’s en-
rolled in the University of Missouri’s online high school, Gold keeps in touch with friends back home and even attended junior prom in May. “My favorite class is English,” Gold says.
She’s not yet sure what she sees herself doing after skating though. “I could end up coaching and do- ing seminars and shows. Or I’m thinking about going into the medical field, like sports medicine, or maybe orthodontics.” While Gold demurs about placement goals
for this year, her mother is more forthcoming. “She would like to make the World team,”
Denise says. “Tat’s a big goal, but it’s a possible goal. She would like to show well as a senior lady at the Grand Prix, but nationals would be the big goal, to try to make the World team.” Gold’s father still lives in Springfield, Ill.,
where he is an anesthesiologist, but they try to see him every weekend. Both Gold and her sister, Carly, passed their
senior tests in June and they say they are one an- other’s biggest fans. “We literally spend all day together,” Carly
says. “So it was weird not having her there when she went to Estonia for the Junior Grand Prix. Tere was no live feed, so I stayed up all night refreshing the page waiting for her score to pop up.”
Although the two have many similar inter-
ests, from skating and juggling to Te Hunger Games, they have distinct personalities. “Gracie’s more of a social butterfly,” Carly says. “I like to keep to myself.” Family life evolves around skating as well.
Tis year’s summer vacation will celebrate the twins’ 17th birthdays in August, right after Gold’s show in Sun Valley, Idaho. In November, when Gold is in Russia for
Rostelecom Cup, Carly could be competing at sectionals. “Maybe I’ll take my dad with me to Russia and my mom would stay with Carly,” Gold says. “But we don’t know if my dad’s ready to have a full Grand Prix. He would have to be on top of it with schedules, traveling and all the documentation.” Troughout the day, Gold munches on snacks when she gets a chance: yogurt, a sand- wich, sliced canary melon.
“I can only eat white things until 7:30 to-
night,” she says. “I just got my teeth Zoom whit- ened.”
With all eyes on Gold this year and what are
sure to be plenty of close-ups, it’s a worthy invest- ment.
SKATING 37
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