Gracie Gold will take time away from skating to seek professional help, according to a statement she released to USA Today Sports. Gold, the 2014 and 2016 U.S. champion, finished fourth at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She also won a bronze medal with the U.S. contingent in the team event.
“My passion for skating and training remains strong,” Gold said in the statement, without going into detail about the type of professional help she will seek. “However, after recent struggles on and off the ice, I realize I need to seek some professional help and will be taking some time off while preparing for my Grand Prix assignments. This time will help me become a stronger person, which I believe will be reflected in my skating performances as well.”
Gold has since pulled out of the Oct. 7 Japan Open, a free-skate only competition, but remains committed to her Grand Prix assignments later in the fall. She is scheduled to compete at the Cup of China in Beijing and the Internationaux de France in Grenoble in November.
The 2018 Olympic team won’t be decided until January’s national championships.
At the 2016 World Championships, Gold fell from first in the short program to fourth overall after the free skate. She faltered in the 2016-17 season, earning a career-low sixth place finish at the 2017 Nationals. She was not named to a world championship team for the first time in her five-year career as a senior skater.
Gold and her Los Angeles-based coach at the time, Frank Carroll, soon split. Gold moved to Canton, Michigan soon after to train with coaches Marina Zoueva and Oleg Epstein.
Earlier in the week, both Russians in the ladies field from the Sochi Olympics also announced they would not be competing this season. Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova is injured and Yulia Lipniskaya, who won gold in the team event, retired.
