Gracie graceful in bid for Olympic team spot
BOSTON — Gracie Gold threw a bag of stuffed animals over her back and headed into the night, very nearly a sure thing now to make the Olympic team and brighten the day of NBC’s marketing department.
The 18-year-old blond skated a nearly perfect short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Thursday night, nailing her triple lutz-triple toe loop combination to start her program and never looking back. She stood first with a 72.12 score that placed her well ahead of upstart Polina Edmunds at 66.75, former Olympian Mirai Nagasu in third and favorite Ashley Wagner in fourth.
“I was able to skate as I trained,” Gold said. “You work so hard for one moment, I was so glad I was able to breathe and bend my knees.”
On an evening when Michelle Kwan was officially inducted into the World Hall of Fame, Kwan’s former coach, Frank Carroll, was rinkside to cheer on his new client, Gold. The combination seems to be working fine.
Gold still may not own the flowing lines of the world’s top skaters, but her nerves and jumps are improving by leaps and bounds. She also owns a promotional knack well beyond her years. She was introduced at the TD Garden as a Bostonian, even though she hasn’t lived in the area since she was 5.
“I drove by the old house in Newton and the East End and it’s like being home again,” Gold said.
After the long program on Saturday, the top three women will qualify for Sochi next month. Wagner, who received a 64.71 score after stepping out of a triple-double combination, has her work cut out for her. Four years ago, Wagner tumbled on her triple lutz in the short program and then missed the Olympic team. Since then, she has won back-to-back national championships and has climbed all the way to the No. 2 ranking in the world.
With even more at stake this time on Thursday, she was only somewhat surer-footed. Wagner insisted, however, she would be fine.
“I am exactly where I want to be,” Wagner said. “I like to be the fighter, not be the one fending off everyone else.”
Edmunds was the biggest surprise. Just 15 and age-eligible for the Olympics by only two months, the 2013 junior champ skated nervelessly to set up a four-way battle on Saturday for three spots. She has her future ahead of her, though these things are tricky — as Nagasu can testify.
Six years after she won her sole national championship at 14 and four years after finishing fourth at the Vancouver Olympics, Nagasu put together an uncharacteristically steady performance to stand third. Nagasu, now 20, has battled jitters, a stress fracture and growth spurts. She recently fired her coach.
“I listened to a commentator who said (a performance) was lackluster,” Nagasu said. “I tried this time to skate with more personality.”