JUST OUT FOR A SPIN
Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford practise their routine on Thursday for Skate Canada International, which runs at the Brandt Centre until Sunday.
Patrick Chan isn’t suffering from another bout of gold fever.
The two-time silver medallist has gained a new and healthy perspective as he prepares for his third and likely final Olympics (Feb. 9-25 in South Korea).
“All I can do is perform my very best and that’s it,” Chan, 26, said in a recent conference call. “I’ve spent a lot of years thinking about Olympic gold. But I don’t give it much thought anymore because my life wouldn’t change at all and my life won’t change no matter what the results are in 2018.”
Chan was quick to emphasize he’s excited about the prospects of Canada winning gold in PyeongChang.
That said, it doesn’t necessarily have to be him.
“My process as an athlete is completely different and my mentality is at a different stage,” explained the three-time world champion. “If there’s any kind of focus on podium finishes, it’s doing it as a team (in the group event) with a very, very strong Canadian team.”
Chan’s immediate priority is Skate Canada International, which runs Friday through Sunday at the Brandt Centre. The Grand Prix event will be a “good stepping stone” toward the national championships (Jan. 8-14 in Vancouver), where he’ll be looking to break a Canadian record with his 10th singles title.
“The priorities of this year are really the national championships and, of course, the Olympics,” he said. “Those are going to be the highlights of this year no matter the results. Skate Canada has a bit of the same aura as a national championship for me and I’ve had really good results for that reason because it’s so comfortable. Hopefully the crowd will be great in Regina. I know it will be because that’s the advantage of a small town is you get really good energy and a good turnout.”
Chan is eager to continue finetuning his new short and long programs. He has also scaled back the quad content — for now, at least — as part of a bigger-picture strategy.
It’s not so much about results for Chan, who’s already one of the most decorated figure skaters in Canadian history. It’s more about the opportunity to truly enjoy his last ride as an amateur athlete.
“It’s a very meaningful year for me,” he said. “I decided I would stick to my old guns and my old tricks and do what I can do at the very best and let the chips land after that. That’s a strategy that is really important to me and is going to make me feel like I can accomplish the most out of every performance this year.”
Chan took a year off after winning silver in the singles and team events at the 2014 Olympics. Although he needed that time to recharge his batteries for another four-year Olympic cycle, Chan found it “extremely challenging” to return and find that the landscape had changed.
“When I came back a year later, we were looking at men doing what they’re doing now — four or five different quads,” he said. “I had a lot of ground to make up, but I needed to take that year off. I don’t think I could have lasted four full seasons leading up to the 2018 Games. It was a strategic move even if I didn’t know it at the time.”
Chan’s initial efforts to close the gap on his high-flying competitors proved to be a bit “overwhelming.” That’s why he plans on sticking to what he does best this season so he can feel confident in his ability to execute.
“I’m not a technical genius when it comes to jumps,” added Chan, who finished first at last year’s Skate Canada International and placed fifth at the world championships. “I’ve done what I needed to do to get to the top during my prime days. I accomplished that, but for me to try and compete with the others, adding a quad flip or a quad Lutz, I don’t enjoy that. At the end of the day, I’ve continued to push myself into the 2018 Games — my third Games — because I want to enjoy it. I need to have a realistic goal in order to enjoy it.”