Elyce Lin-Gracey on senior Grand Prix debut: “I felt like I had the pressure of the world on me”
With her first senior Grand Prix out of the way, the 17-year-old USA figure skater said she learned more about her nerves and what techniques she can use to turn the competition jitters to her advantage.
Figure Skating
Standing by the ice rink at her first senior Grand Prix, Elyce Lin-Gracey wears a shirt with "US Figure Skating National Development Team” written on it. It has been two years since she received this garment, in the span of which the young skater went from watching the home Grand Prix on television to stepping onto the ice herself.
As expected, this transformation from TV viewer to competitor rattled her nerves, and even more than usual as Lin-Gracey made her senior Grand Prix debut at Skate America less than a month after her breakout win at the 2024 Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany.
“Coming to this event, I felt like I had the pressure of the world on me because all everyone has been mentioning is 'Nebelhorn this, Nebelhorn that'," Lin-Gracey told Olympics.com. "It's a lot to try to skate my best after my best performance ever. In practice, I would be performing like Nebelhorn every single day. But when I got here, the nerves are a lot. The pressure. Lights are brighter. The audience was so wonderful here, but it's like not something that I'm super used to yet."
The 17-year-old finished a solid sixth overall at Skate America and now hopes to turn the experience into a learning opportunity ahead of her next Grand Prix starts.
Falling and getting up again: Elyce Lin-Gracey's start in figure skating
Lin-Gracey knows first-hand that figure skating is not always a smooth ride. Coming to the rink for the first time when she was four years old, the future Grand Prix skater took fall after fall. And just as readily got up again and again.
“My mom decided to take me to the public session one day, and I just kept falling all over the place. But I apparently just kept getting back up and wanting to keep skating," Lin-Gracey recalled. "My mom was like, 'Oh, maybe she could try this'."
Rhoda Lin enrolled her daughter into a Learn to Skate programme where she kept progressing her skill set. Around the age of six, Lin-Gracey started taking private lessons, which is when she truly embraced figure skating.
“I fell in love with this sport once I was intermediate or novice," she said. "I was like, 'I know I can actually be something', because I started getting my triples and I was like, 'Let's keep going and keep going to senior and see how this goes'."
It has gone pretty well so far for Lin-Gracey, who won two medals at the ISU Challenger Series this season. In addition to her victory in Oberstdorf, the young skater also finished second at the Cranberry Cup International in August.
A jittery Skate America debut: “I didn't think my nerves were going to be this big"
Lin-Gracey's breakout results at the Cranberry Cup and Nebelhorn Trophy earned her a last-minute call up to Skate America in October.
This rapid jump into the echelons of the highest-level senior circuit had the young skater shaking with nerves as she had never experienced before. Coming off a career's best performance at Nebelhorn only made those nerves greater.
“I did a lot of interviews and stuff after Nebelhorn and coming and going into Skate America," Lin-Gracey said. "Everyone was mentioning like, 'Oh, you're the talk of the town'. They were all focusing on how I did at Nebelhorn and while I love the attention, I was trying not to get it into my head because I wasn't trying to make myself feel like, 'Oh, you're the best here, you're going to win'. That's not the mindset I was hoping to go for."
Trying her best to “block all that out”, Lin-Gracey scored 60.22 for her short program, which put her in seventh place, and added 123.72 for the free program. The total of 183.94 points put her sixth overall, but while it was a solid placement for a senior debut, the skater was left frustrated with how she handled the pressure.
“I didn't think my nerves were going to be this big coming into this competition," Lin-Gracey said. "When I got here, all I was focusing on was, land the triple-triple, land the triple-triple, and in the short, I didn't get it. I didn't land it. I stepped out, and then I made silly mistakes, which I never make. And then in the long, I did it. But then I was so excited, I made silly mistakes on the easiest jumps. I need to learn from that."
Mirai Nagasu and Amber Glenn: Elyce Lin-Gracey's big name fan club
Lin-Gracey has a short turnaround before she competes again at Skate Canada, held in Halifax from 25 to 27 October. This time she is determined not to let nerves get the best of her and is working on different techniques to stay calm, such as measured breathing.
"We're hoping to let all the stress fly out of me," Lin-Gracey said. "Now that I can understand how the nerves feel, I'm working with my team of coaches and our sport psychologist to figure out how to use the nerves to my advantage to help me skate my best, which I know I'm capable of doing."
Aside from calming techniques, Lin-Gracey is relying on the advice of top figure skaters as she undertakes her senior Grand Prix career.
Some of these messages of support come from two-time Olympian Mirai Nagasu. Lin-Gracey took a 10-week Learn to Skate course with the Olympic bronze medallist as a child. While she did not know who Nagasu was at the time, she still remembers how much she enjoyed the class.
“I just thought she was the most fun. In my little seven-year-old mind, she was the funnest teacher ever. I remember she taught me how to do three turns and she taught me how to stop properly. And I remember she would let us spray her, which was really fun," Lin-Gracey said. "She was my favourite teacher. And when I grew older and I realised that she was an Olympian, I was like, 'I got lessons from an Olympian! That's pretty cool'.
“She'll send me little messages every now and then after competitions, and they're always really sweet to read."
Lin-Gracey's current training partner, U.S. national champion Amber Glenn, is also among those who gives the young skater advice and encouragement.
“Getting to skate with her every day is a blessing," Lin-Gracey said. "She's the sweetest person alive. She'll always be helping me improve my jumps and just little things, which is really nice. And watching her train hard motivates me to train harder so we can hopefully be at our best for U.S. Nationals because the U.S. Nationals, it's going to be a really interesting event this year."
The national championships are a pathway for Lin-Gracey to qualify for her first ISU World Figure Skating Championships – a goal made even more tantalising by the fact that next year's competition will take place on home ice in Boston.
The possible worlds debut in full Team USA kit is a long way from the more modest shirt Lin-Gracey received two years ago, and the young skater is keenly aware of it.
“Yesterday I was wearing one of my old national development team shirts from 2022, and the team doctor noticed," Lin-Gracey said. She's like, 'It's crazy how two years ago you were on the national development team and now you're on the Grand Prix circuit', which now when I think about it, that's pretty cool."