Lethbridge Herald

Chan switches training base to Vancouver

- Lori Ewing

Days after missing the Skate Canada Internatio­nal podium for the first time in eight years, and with only a few months left of his competitiv­e career, Patrick Chan felt stuck.

He craved a change of scenery, and a better sense of balance. So he headed west, where he travelled for a couple of weeks before settling in Vancouver.

“I felt like I had the blues a bit, I just couldn’t push myself to go to the rink and get really good work done,” Chan said.

The three-time world champion was fourth at Skate Canada in October in Regina, plummeting from second after an error-filled free skate. He then withdrew from NHK Trophy a couple of weeks later in Japan, which automatica­lly eliminated him from December’s Grand Prix Final.

Chan, who turns 27 on New Year’s Eve, spent a good week and a half off the ice, travelling to Tofino, a picturesqu­e beach town on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and Bowen Island, which sits at the entrance to Howe Sound and is a popular destinatio­n for hikers and mountain bikers.

He’s been in Vancouver since, where he plans to stay at least through next month’s national championsh­ips.

“The lifestyle of Vancouver does seem to really draw me towards there,” Chan said.

Chan said Marina Zoueva, his coach in Canton, Mich., supported the move, telling him “‘Patrick, whatever makes you happy, I’m happy you’ve found a place where you could regain that energy,’ and kind of the drive, the push,” he said.

“They’ve done so much for me, and I really wanted it to be an open-book policy, I didn’t want it to be ‘Oh I’m running away,’ and not letting them know. So I kept things very open.”

He said he and Zoueva speak every week or two. But for now, his training is a team effort that includes Elizabeth Putnam, a former pairs skater who writes training plans for many of the top skaters in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, plus Skate Canada physiologi­st Kelly Quipp, among others.

Chan’s coach at the national championsh­ips, Jan. 8-14, is still to be determined, but “whoever is going to be at nationals is going to be at Olympics, that’s for sure,” he said. “It’s things to think about, but I’m also not in a rush to plan things so far ahead.”

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