Chan not about to call it quits yet
HALIFAX — For three-time world figure skating champion Patrick Chan, returning to competitive skating this season has been as much fun as a three-ring circus — with the elephants stomping on his head.
Chan surprised a small group of journalists at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax on Thursday afternoon following a practice session when he admitted there have been times this season when he almost quit competitive skating once and for all.
Following his silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the Toronto athlete took a year off from competitive skating to recharge and relax. He returned this season and discovered, much to his chagrin, that a return to past form has been much more difficult than he imagined. So much that he almost pulled the chute on his comeback.
“I’ve come very close to just calling it quits and moving on,” Chan said on the eve of the Canadian Figure Skating Championships this weekend. “I’ll be honest, after (the Grand Prix final), I definitely had a week where I didn’t want to be at the rink, didn’t want to be there. Skated a session and said, ‘Screw it, I just want to get off. I’m just not there mentally, I’m just checked out.’”
At the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona last month, Chan finished a disappointing fourth, after placing sixth in the short program. He said frustrations have boiled over at times before and since, with his coach Kathy Johnson usually on the receiving end of his angst.
“It’s not easy,” the two-time Grand Prix Final winner said. “I’ve been having (issues with) my knee, my ankle, just little things,” he said. “My body just doesn’t feel great all the time when I’m practising. So that also adds to the, ‘God why do I want to be here?’ ”
Fortunately for Canadian skate fans, the 25-year-old is in a good place at the moment and is thrilled to be at the Canadian championships again.
“I have to move on from competing at some point. It’s whether I want to do it now or do I want to do it in two years,” he said.