Gold’s sister set for nationals
Like Gracie, Carly dreams big when it comes to skating
Two blocks from the ocean in Redondo Beach, Calif., a pair of 20-year-old twin sisters share a bedroom each night. One has made it her mission to capture gold at the 2018 Olympics after finishing a disappointing fourth in Sochi nearly two years ago.
The other? She’s making her debut at the U.S. figure skating championships next month.
Long Gracie Gold’s biggest fan, twin sister Carly will put blade to ice on the national stage for the first time in January in St. Paul at the U.S. championships, stepping out from the shadows as a spectating sister and becoming a fellow competitor.
“Nationals has always been my goal since I was 10 years old,” Carly tells USA TODAY Sports in a phone interview. “I would always have mixed feelings there: I’m here to support Gracie, but then I also had a little sadness. Just sitting in the stands watching, that was pretty tough for me.”
Carly qualified for nationals the tough way, too. She won a regional event in October and last month placed first in the Pacific Coast Sectionals with renowned coach Frank Carroll, who works with both sisters, at her side.
“Carly is the kind of girl who doesn’t expect anything. She goes in trying to skate as well as she can,” says Carroll, who has coached Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek to Olympic medals. “And she couldn’t be more supportive of her sister than she is. She’s content with her situation in the family with Gracie.”
It’s a jarring situation for twins who call each other best friends. Gracie is one of the best skaters in the world and counts Taylor Swift among her friends. Carly is introverted and artsy. Currently, her hair is dyed a bright red, and both sisters can name more differences than similarities between them.
“I rarely get asked about how we’re similar,” Gracie says. “We have always been two peas in a pod, but just different kind of peas.”
And best friends who happen to love the same thing unendingly: figure skating.
Both started skating at Jordan Valley Ice Park in Springfield, Mo., though Gracie was a year ahead of Carly, consistent to her go-getter, no-fear approach.
“Gracie always went ahead, and Carly stayed back and was the observant one,” says their mother, Denise. “Gracie would charge ahead in uncertain settings.”
Uncertain, also, is how Carly’s presence — as a skater — will impact Gracie’s performance in St. Paul, where the 2014 U.S. champion looks to steal her crown back from Ashley Wagner, the three-time winner and current titleholder.
“I don’t know how that will feel,” Carly says. “Gracie has been skating remarkably this season. She’s been so solid in practice. I think she will be in fighting form this (nationals).”
One would think that there would be fighting between Carly and Gracie, but it is rare. In their new Redondo Beach home they chose to share a room, turning a second bedroom into a “giant walk-in closet,” Carly says.
“They communicate to each other without speaking; they are so very connected,” says Scott Brown, a choreographer who works with both Golds. “They’re always there supporting one another. Carly is always there for Gracie.”
Carly is undeterred despite the differences in their skating skills.
“When the girls were little, people would say to me, ‘I wish Carly could find something that
she liked,’ ” Denise Gold recalls. “She wanted to skate. She loved to skate.
“With nationals, it’s nice to not have to justify Carly’s skating. I’ve always believed in her.”
The last time two siblings competed against each other in singles in the U.S. championships was in 2003, when Alissa Czisny was 10th and sister Amber 20th. They’re also twins.
Gracie sees Carly first as her twin and then as a rival at nationals. She’s plotting all the extra time they’ll get to spend together.
“Nationals will be more relaxing with her there, at practices, at warm-ups. We skate together every day,” she says. “Watching Carly makes me really nervous for her, it stresses me out. I won’t have to watch her at nationals; I’ll just look at her face and know the results.”
Olympic gold might be the dream of one twin, but nationals is just fine for the other.
“It’s my own personal fairy tale that I’m living right now,” Carly says.
And then she adds, “It will be really interesting if we skate one right after the other, right?”
“They communicate to each other without speaking. ... They’re always there supporting one another.”
Scott Brown, a choreographer for Gracie and Carly Gold