# Elyce Lin-Gracey

Elyce Lin-Gracey (born June 7, 2007) is an American figure skater. She is the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy champion, 2024 CS Cranberry Cup silver medalist and the 2023 CS Warsaw Cup bronze medalist.
At the junior level, Lin-Gracey is the 2025 World Junior bronze medalist, 2023 JGP Armenia silver medalist and the 2023 U.S. junior national bronze medalist.

## Personal life

Lin-Gracey was born on June 7, 2007, in Arcadia, California to mother Rhoda Lin, a physician, and father Andrew Gracey, a biology professor at the University of Southern California. She has three siblings, Wesley, Finley, and Georgiana. She also has a dog named Pixar and many pet birds. In summer 2023, Lin-Gracey and her family moved from California to Colorado Springs, Colorado so she could train there full-time.
Lin-Gracey is currently a student at Laurel Springs School.

## Career
### Early career

Lin-Gracey began figure skating at the age of four. Her first figure skating coach was Natasha Adler-DeGuzman, who taught her at the Pasadena Figure Skating Club in Pasadena, California. While there, she took a ten-week Learn to Skate class by former U.S. National champion and two-time Olympian, Mirai Nagasu. She would later relocate to Lakewood, California, where she was coached by Amy Evidente and Naomi Nari Nam.
She made her national debut at the 2022 U.S. Junior Championships, where she finished fifth.

### 2022–23 season

Lin-Gracey made her junior international debut on the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix, finishing eighth at 2022 JGP Czech Republic and ninth at 2022 JGP Poland II. She would later reflect that it was "really exciting getting to be on the Junior Grand Prix circuit," even if "I didn't have the outcomes I would have liked to have."
At the 2023 U.S. Junior Championships, Lin-Gracey won the bronze medal. Following the season's end, Lin-Gracey moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Tammy Gambill, Sandy Straub, and Damon Allen became her new coaches.

### 2023–24 season: First Junior Grand Prix medal

Lin-Gracey began the season by making her senior international debut at the 2023 Cranberry Cup International, where she finished in fourth place. She then made her first appearance on the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix, finishing fourth at the 2023 JGP Turkey. At her second event, the 2023 JGP Armenia, Lin-Gracey won the silver medal. She and the event's bronze medalist, fellow American Sherry Zhang, were the only JGP women's medalists that year from countries outside of East Asia. Based on her Junior Grand Prix placements, Lin-Gracey was named the second alternate to the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final. Going on to compete on the senior level at the 2023 CS Warsaw Cup, Lin-Gracey won the bronze medal in her Challenger Series debut.
In advance of the 2024 U.S. Championships, Lin-Gracey was named as first alternate for the American women's delegation to the 2024 Four Continents Championships, which were to be held in Shanghai the week after the national championships. She came tenth at the national championships, but was thereafter named to the Four Continents team when national champion Amber Glenn opted to withdraw. Lin-Gracey placed seventh.

### 2024–25 season: World Junior bronze

Lin-Gracey opened her season by winning silver the 2024 CS Cranberry Cup International behind teammate, Sarah Everhardt, scoring a personal best total score by almost twenty points. At the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Lin-Gracey won the gold medal ahead of reigning World silver medalist, Isabeau Levito, scoring personal bests in all competition segments, including a free skate score that was sixteen points higher than her previous personal best.
On the 2024–25 Grand Prix circuit, Lin-Gracey was initially only assigned to compete at 2024 Skate America after being selected as a host pick. However, in early October, she was soon announced to have been assigned to compete at 2024 Skate Canada International due to Finnish skater Nella Pelkonen withdrawing from the event. Lin-Gracey finished sixth at Skate America and seventh at Skate Canada International.
In January, Lin-Gracey competed at the 2025 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, where she finished in eighth place. Assigned to the team for the 2025 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, Lin-Gracey placed fourth in the short program and third in the free skate, winning the bronze medal overall. Following the event, she expressed satisfaction, saying, "After the U.S. Championships, I thought my 2024/2025 season was over. I was so sad it ended off on a bad note, frustrated that I didn’t put out performances like I did at the beginning of the season. But when I found out I had the opportunity to compete again I knew I had to revaluate and figure out how to achieve performances like that again. My nerves were at an all time high this past week because I wanted to put out 2 good performances that I would be proud of and everyone else would be proud of knowing that many people had put their faith in me. While my performances this past week weren’t perfect, it was an improvement and that I’m proud of."

## Programs

| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2021–22 | Send in the Clowns (from A Little Night Music) by Stephen Sondheim performed by Lisa Hannigan | The Meadow (from The Twilight Saga: New Moon) by Alexandre Desplat Opportunity (from Annie) by Sia | |
| 2022–23 | The Prayer performed by Lexi Walker and Jenny Oaks Baker choreo. by Drew Meekins, Jamie Isley | Moonlight by Jennifer Thomas and Viktoria Tocca Moonlight Sonata Mvt. 3 performed by Tommee Profitt choreo. by Drew Meekins, Jamie Isley | |
| 2023–24 | Someone Like You (from Jekyll & Hyde) performed by Linda Eder choreo. by Drew Meekins, Jamie Isley | Anna's Theme (from The Red Violin) by John Corigliano performed by Joshua Bell Not About Angels (from The Fault in Our Stars) by Birdy Remember Me by Thomas Bergersen choreo. by Drew Meekins, Jamie Isley | |
| 2024–25 | Broken Vow by Lara Fabian & Walter Afanasieff choreo. by Drew Meekins, Jamie Isley | Cléopâtre Wadjet Cleopatra's Death by Claude-Michel Schönberg choreo. by Drew Meekins, Jamie Isley | Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish |

## Competitive highlights

* JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
* CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
Competition placements at senior level :
| Season | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
| Four Continents Championships | 8th | |
| U.S. Championships | 10th | 8th |
| GP Skate America | | 6th |
| GP Skate Canada | | 7th |
| CS Cranberry Cup | 4th | 2nd |
| CS Nebelhorn Trophy | | 1st |
| CS Warsaw Cup | 3rd | |
Competition placements at junior level :
| Season | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
| World Junior Championships | | | | 3rd |
| U.S. Championships | 5th | 3rd | | |
| JGP Armenia | | | 2nd | |
| JGP Czech Republic | | 8th | | |
| JGP Poland | | 9th | | |
| JGP Turkey | | | 4th | |
| Challenge Cup | 5th | | | |

## Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 213.33 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Short program | TSS | 71.16 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Short program | TES | 39.44 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Short program | PCS | 31.72 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Free skating | TSS | 142.17 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Free skating | TES | 75.15 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Free skating | PCS | 67.02 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |

### Senior level

Results in the 2023–24 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Aug 11–13, 2023 | 2023 Cranberry Cup International | 3 | 58.70 | 6 | 103.88 | 4 | 162.58 |
| Nov 15–17, 2023 | 2023 CS Warsaw Cup | 4 | 59.85 | 3 | 117.65 | 3 | 177.50 |
| Jan 22–28, 2024 | 2024 U.S. Championships | 10 | 59.71 | 9 | 114.86 | 10 | 173.11 |
| Jan 30 – Feb 4, 2024 | 2024 Four Continents Championships | 8 | 62.83 | 11 | 111.15 | 8 | 173.98 |
Results in the 2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Aug 8–11, 2024 | 2024 CS Cranberry Cup International | 1 | 67.88 | 3 | 126.11 | 2 | 193.99 |
| Sep 18–21, 2024 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 1 | 71.16 | 1 | 142.17 | 1 | 213.33 |
| Oct 18–20, 2024 | 2024 Skate America | 7 | 60.22 | 7 | 123.72 | 6 | 183.94 |
| Oct 25–27, 2024 | 2024 Skate Canada International | 5 | 58.64 | 6 | 123.73 | 7 | 182.37 |
| Jan 20–26, 2025 | 2025 U.S. Championships | 8 | 61.47 | 9 | 117.75 | 8 | 179.22 |

### Junior level

Results in the 2021–22 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Jan 3–9, 2022 | 2022 U.S. Championships (Junior) | 2 | 62.53 | 6 | 104.43 | 5 | 166.96 |
| Feb 24–27, 2022 | 2022 International Challenge Cup | 5 | 51.48 | 5 | 98.10 | 5 | 149.58 |
Results in the 2022–23 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Aug 31 – Sep 3, 2022 | 2022 JGP Czech Republic | 6 | 56.15 | 8 | 96.73 | 8 | 152.88 |
| Oct 5–8, 2022 | 2022 JGP Poland II | 11 | 52.90 | 8 | 105.48 | 9 | 158.38 |
| Jan 23–29, 2023 | 2023 U.S. Championships (Junior) | 2 | 65.57 | 7 | 100.00 | 3 | 165.57 |
Results in the 2023–24 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Sep 6–9, 2023 | 2023 JGP Turkey | 5 | 59.75 | 3 | 119.41 | 4 | 179.16 |
| Oct 4–7, 2023 | 2023 JGP Armenia | 2 | 64.50 | 4 | 111.61 | 2 | 176.11 |
Results in the 2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Feb 25 – Mar 2, 2025 | 2025 World Junior Championships | 4 | 66.11 | 3 | 122.60 | 3 | 188.71 |