Chan joins men’s skating evolution
MISSISSAUGA, ONT. Launching a comeback after an 18-month hiatus, Patrick Chan had been frustrated to find his sport had become figure skating’s version of a slam dunk contest.
All about the big jumps, skaters were jam-packing their programs to score major points.
And so Chan had no choice but to evolve with it.
The three-time world champion from Toronto will attempt three quadruple jumps in his long program for the first time at this week’s Skate Canada International, in an effort to be more competitive with the world’s top skaters.
“I think that will be a good challenge for the other guys for the podium,” Chan said,
Chan, whose artistry on the ice is considered the world standard, knew that to challenge for an Olympic medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, he needed to crank up the technical difficulty, and so added the quad Salchow to the two quad toe loops he already had in the long program.
Chan said training with Nathan Chen, a 17-year-old American who’s known for his big jumps, has helped. Chen landed four quads in his long program last season.
“He is the epitome of what skating has become,” Chan said. “(My perspective) has somehow switched now, because I see it every day. I see how technically stronger he is than I am. I’ve learned just to accept it and be amazed by the ability of these kids.
“He’s just strolling in and ... quad Lutz. It’s like, ‘Oh my god. Are you kidding me?’ I never thought this would be possible. But it also makes me go into my quad Salchow thinking, ‘All right, this is just another jump. I won’t make a big deal out of it.’ It just normalizes everything.”
Not much has been normal for Chan recently.
His coach Kathy Johnson left him in August, and so he moved to Canton to train with Marina Zoueva, the Russian coach who guided Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to Olympic ice dance gold and silver.
“To have Patrick in the skating arena, it’s like having a Rembrandt in your home. It’s a piece of art,” Zoueva said.
“The ice is my home, and he’s like a piece of art, how he skates and how he trains. It’s a real privilege.”
Zoueva said confidence is the key with Chan, who landed two beautiful quad jumps in practice Thursday morning at the Hershey Centre. He frets about being “old.” “Marina has told me many times, ‘Don’t say you’re 25, don’t say you can’t do this, it’s ridiculous,’” said Chan.