At 17-years-old Lin-Gracey has amazed the audience in Oberstdorf, Germany with her personal best performance. With a score of 71.16 in her short program, she left no room for error to ensure that victory would belong to her. Skating to Lara Fabian, Lin-Gracey opened her performance with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination which she performed with grace and ease, starting her program off with an aura of confidence. Competing against seasoned veterans, Lin-Gracey followed up her show stopping opener with a double-Axel and a triple flip. This was not the first time in the season that she had performed this routine, earlier in the year she performed the same short program at the Cranberry Cup in Massachusetts with a score of 67.88. Lin-Gracey described her nerves at the Nebelhorn Trophy as “when I stepped on the ice it felt very comfortable”.
In her free skate program, Lin-Gracey scored an impressive 142.17 which improved upon her personal best in the category by 16 points. With six triple jumps in her routine, she managed to perform a clean routine to secure first ahead of her teammate Isabeau Levito. After falling short in the Cranberry Cup, her victory at Oberstdorf certainly takes the title for the biggest win of her career.
By the end of the weekend, Elyce Lin-Gracey had not only solidified a 213.33 point win but also a new champion status. With performances at this calibre, it should be expected to see Lin-Gracey’s name at the highest levels of the sport.