Chan in chase for gold in his return to ice
Toronto skater is seven one-hundredths back in first event since Sochi
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA.— It was far from the return Patrick Chan had envisioned, but still good enough to leave Canada’s three-time world champion within striking distance of gold.
And more than a year-and-half after he walked off the competitive ice, Chan sent a reminder that — even when he makes mistakes — he’s among the world’s best.
The 24-year-old from Toronto is second after the men’s short program at Skate Canada International, his first major competition since the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Skating to Michael Buble’s version of “Mack the Knife,” he opened with a huge quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination, but then fell on his triple Axel and doubled a planned triple Lutz.
“It’s so great to be back and I love that the audience is as excited as I am,” Chan said.
Fortunately for Chan, on a night he was far from perfect, nobody else was either. In what was virtually a threeway tie for the lead, Daisuke Murakami of Japan scored 80.88 points for first, while American Adam Rippon is third with 80.36.
And while the event was billed as a rematch between Chan and Olympic gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu, the Japanese skater finished well down in sixth place.
Earlier, ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., won the short program, while Kaetlyn Osmond of Marystown, N.L., was fourth in a women’s short program won by American Ashley Wagner.
Nam Nguyen of Toronto was fourth in the men’s short program.
Chan, dressed in a casual slacks/ sweater combination, broke into a wide smile when the Enmax Centre crowd roared at his introduction.
He lamented the difficulty of his program, but admitted it’s what he needs if he wants to win a fourth world championship in March in Boston.
“Ask Kathy (Johnston, his coach). We’ve had full-blown arguments on practice, just being like ‘What’s the point of doing all this hard stuff when I can’t even stay on time?’ I feel rushed the entire time,” he said. “That’s walking that fine line of greatness, and I think in the end it will be worth it.”
Weaver and Poje, meanwhile, won the short program with an elegant waltz program they put together only two weeks ago.
The world bronze medallists from Waterloo, Ont. — he dressed in a tuxedo, she in a soft pink dress — scored 68.00 points for their waltz to music by Johann Strauss, giving them a two-point lead over American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani.