Chan a stunning sixth at Grand Prix final
Duhamel and Radford have shot at pairs gold despite a rare fall
Not the Patrick Chan we know. Not the Patrick Chan he knows either.
Ditto for Canada’s pairs team of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford at the Grand Prix final. But at least they’re within three points of Russian front-runners Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov. Third after the short program competition, the couple is still well within grasp of defending their gold medal title heading into Friday’s free skate.
But Chan, a three-time world champion on the comeback trail after taking a year’s hiatus from the figure skating grind, was nearly 30 points off his personal best when the short programs were rolled out Thursday in Barcelona. That’s a whole lot of gap to make up, from way down in sixth spot, against Olympic champion and personal nemesis Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, who broke his own points record, and Spaniard Javier Fernandez, sitting second in front of a rapturous home country audience.
“I messed up,’’ admitted 24-yearold Chan, of the botch on a quad toe jump — he tripled it — that doomed the planned quad-triple combination, opening salvo in his breezy “Mack the Knife” routine.
“I tried to add the combo on the Lutz because you never want to give up. I tried to feel the program, feel the jumps but it wasn’t successful.”
Prior to this season, quick-thinking skaters could ad lib on the program contents if they missed an element. That’s why Chan hastily added a triple toe to what would have been a stand-alone triple Lutz. Instead, be- cause skaters are not permitted to perform the same jump twice in the short, two triple toes cancelled out all the points in the combo. So Chan earned marks only for a lowly triple toe at the beginning of the routine.
“He kind of hit a double whammo,” said Mike Slipchuk, the high performance director with Skate Canada. “It’s an automatic zero, a flat-out zero.”
As a result, the second scores, the component marks, were also dragged down.
“We’re already doing so much out there on the ice so I don’t really think about the rules going into the program,” Chan said. “I don’t study the rulebook off the ice.”
Its’ been an up-and-down season for Chan as he ventures back into the elite realm of skaters. He won Skate Canada, his first assignment on the Grand Prix circuit, but was fifth after apoor short showing at Trophee Eric Bompard in France. The free skate segment of that event was scrubbed because of the terrorist attacks in Paris but Chan did manage to qualify for the final, which features the top six finishers in all disciplines.
Chan scored a very un-Chan mark of 70.6 and will seek to atone —or at least remind judges of who he is — in his long program Chopin routine. “Every competition is a fresh start. I just have to put this behind me.”
Hanyu’s new world record — he had set the previous high of 106.33 two weeks ago, eclipsing his score from the Sochi Olympics — is 110.05. Fernandez is second with 91.52, followed by China’s Boyang Jin at 86.95.
“I know Patrick is frustrated,” said Slipchuk. “But a year and a half off, when you come back there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve. It’s competition mileage.”
Duhamel and Radford, reigning world champions and undefeated in more than a year, had a significant and rare blunder when she fell on a throw triple Lutz near the end of their program performed to Elton John’s “Your Song.”
The duo has never missed that throw triple in their six years.
“It’s unbelievable for us,’’ moaned Duhamel.
Yet they still earned a season’s best 72.74, earning huge marks for their other pairs elements, the twist, death spiral and spins.
“It was the strongest overall short program we’ve done this season,” said Duhamel. “But we know we’re capable of more and falling on a throw triple is uncharacteristic for us. It just got a little bit wild. Maybe we got a little carried in the moment of everything else being good, I’m not sure. So lots to build on for tomorrow.”
Their free skate routine, performed to Adele’s “Hometown Glory,” is chock-a-block with points-garnering Level 4 moves.
“This event is not over until that long program is done,” said Radford. “And we are still within reach of the top podium.’’
They have one quad throw, a Salchow, planned for Friday. Canadian ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, defending gold medallists at this event, begin their competition Friday.