Figure skater Chan eyes a place in history books

‘EXTREMELY SPECIAL’

for your current physical situation and mental situation.”

To that end, Chan has recently been working with a sports psychologist, something new for him, but just one of several changes for 2016-17 that also included relocating his training base to Canton, Mich., and joining coaches Marina Zoueva, Oleg Epstein and Johnny Johns. His previous coach, Kathy Johnson, announced in August that she would no longer be working with him.

It’s something of a “leaving no stone unturned” tactic, Chan explained, and something well worth trying at this point in his skating career. He cited the example of finding a better way to navigate the 45-minute wait between the pre-competition warm-up and being the last performer in a particular flight of skaters.

Chan’s fall season featured some noticeable peaks and valleys, including firsts in both his Grand Prix competitions (Skate Canada, Cup of China) and, prior to that, a second at the Finlandia Trophy senior event, but a puzzling fifth in the Grand Prix final in Marseille in December. He was second after the short program in that competition, but struggled to just fifth place in the free skate even though he successfully performed a quadruple Salchow jump that he had been integrating into his routine.

Now it’s back to Ottawa, where Chan finished seventh behind winner Jeffrey Buttle in his first senior national competition at the age of 15 in 2006. He improved two spots, still behind Buttle, in Halifax in 2007, then started his string of Canadian championships in 2008 in Vancouver, with the eighth added a year ago back in Nova Scotia’s capital.

He constructed a 25-point lead after the short program and he tacked another 34 points onto that advantage to finish well ahead of B.C. skaters Liam Firus and Kevin Reynolds, and Nguyen.

“For me, it’s a huge bonus because I love my country and I love competing for my country,” Chan said, “so if I can set a special record like that on home turf, that goes a long way for my personal gratification and personal challenge.”