Chan: "Not dream skate I expected"

[gsk8]

Patrick Chan made history in Vancouver claiming his tenth national championship in the same city where he won his first. The 2014 Olympic silver medallist skated a technically tentative, but soulful free program to “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley and completed his national career with a total score of 272.24. In the long program, Chan managed two quadruple toe loops, but doubled his triple Axel attempts.

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“I was telling [coach] Ravi [Walia] it is obviously not the dream skate I expected for number ten,” Chan reflected. “It feels good and maybe it’s just not having the best skate of my life, having won my tenth, but there have been a lot of great ones that I can count. Of course, I would have loved to have landed and nailed every single jump, but I did what I had to do, and I had a lot of my own demons coming here. I was able to accomplish a big goal and a big step forward, so I feel good for the Olympics.”

Still.....ten national titles. That's impressive in of itself, not to mention the the other bag of international medals. What are your observations on his performance compared to his last skate before he withdrew from NHK?

 

[gmyers]

10 titles! That’s one of those things you look on lists on wiki and just be impressed! It’s just very impressive!!

He has like show triples. He’s like moved to show skating jumps.

 

[Mathman]

Not Patrick's best all-time showing. (His first Canadian title, to Four Seasons, was his best, IMHO. ) But Patrick is still Patrick. Winning ten National titles in a major figure skating country like Canada is impressive indeed. This beats Toller Cranston, Brian Orser, Kurt Browning, Elvis and everybody. It even beats the great Montgomery Wilson, who has 9. :yes: Michelle Kwan herself has only 9 national titles!

Patrick was and is a skater of remarkable and unique talents. Maybe he isn't now the skater that he was at his peak, but he still presents a perfect blend of blade-to-ice skills, big tricks, and artistry. He can be a big factor in the Olympic team event for Canada.

 

[skylark]

What are your observations on his performance compared to his last skate before he withdrew from NHK?[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]

When I saw the still shot on the link to Patrick's FS video, I thought, "he looks lean ... and ethereal."
And when I watched the video, I thought that those two words applied to his skate. As though he has moved to another level. It sounds corny, but that's what I thought. It was far from his most brilliant or even his most out-of-this-world skate. For me, that's his 2016 4CC free skate

But his SC skates really rattled him. He was speaking in this interview on a technical level, and that's the way skaters usually speak. But, to give another example ... it wasn't until I saw the replays that it registered to me that he'd doubled both 3 axels, something he rarely does. So he can work on that. But there was something about his performance this time that got to me. Some emotional quality.

Well, gsk8, you did ask for observations! Bet you weren't expecting such a twilight zoney answer.

 

[gsk8]

And a very good one!!

 

[skylark]

 

[Arriba627]

Although winning convincingly and resoundingly is probably a lot more fun than "winning ugly", a win is still a win! Congratulations and kudos to Patrick for his win! 10 titles is pretty amazing!

 

[draqq]

I'm just happy he's skating and that he's happy doing it. I think, like most people, wish he could have that 3A by the time the Olympics arrives (I think the 4S might be too high of a wish). I just want him to have four wonderful skates in PyeongChang regardless of his final standing and to finish his career with skates that I know he's capable of doing.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

10 titles! That’s one of those things you look on lists on wiki and just be impressed! It’s just very impressive!!

He has like show triples. He’s like moved to show skating jumps.

Yup - a show 3Z+3T and a show 4T+2T.

 

[gmyers]

Yup - a show 3Z+3T and a show 4T+2T.

It’s a new era. 5 quad long era.

 

[ranran]

10 is huge achievement! and I was quite surprised to see in the list that Kurt Browning, Brian Orser or other big name has not even reach 9. Congrats Chan!

 

[Eclair]

what did Patrick expect? Did he really think he would skate a clean program after this long hiatus with motivation problems and jumping problems even before? That's kind of unrealistic.

I think he did what he could at this point of his training (hopefully Ravi will be able to work on his jumps till Olympics) and gave a wonderful performance in the FS. It's one of my favorite performances this season with his timing and details on movements even improved. Comparable to Sui/Han's Hallelujah

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

It’s a new era. 5 quad long era.

So, according to that logic, ANY skate by Chan would be a show skate, unless he did 5 quads. Okay, there. I suppose Javier only does show skates too since, like Chan, he only has 2 types of quads. :sarcasm:

 

[gmyers]

So, according to that logic, ANY skate by Chan would be a show skate, unless he did 5 quads. Okay, there. I suppose Javier only does show skates too since, like Chan, he only has 2 types of quads. :sarcasm:

No you need quads and triple axel. That’s the standard.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

No you need quads and triple axel. That’s the standard.

Oh, I suppose then the GPF gold medalist, Nathan Chen, isn't the standard since, like Chan, he has axel issues?

Brown doesn't have a quad either and Rippon doesn't have a clean one either, but both were clearly good enough for GP medals and to make the GPF over guys who do quads.

There's a big discrepancy between Olympic podium standard and typical show jumping/skating standard. If you think 5 quads is the standard, and anything otherwise is merely show jumping, then you're basically saying all but 3 of the field are show jumpers, lol.

 

[gmyers]

Oh, I suppose then the GPF gold medalist, Nathan Chen, isn't the standard since, like Chan, he has axel issues?

Brown doesn't have a quad either and Rippon doesn't have a clean one either, but both were clearly good enough for GP medals and to make the GPF over guys who do quads.

There's a big discrepancy between Olympic podium standard and typical show jumping/skating standard. If you think 5 quads is the standard, and anything otherwise is merely show jumping, then you're basically saying all but 3 of the field are show jumpers, lol.

Absolutely.

 

[chuckm]

The reason why Nathan Chen has 'axel issues' is that during the time when he was learning the 3A, he suffered from Osgood-Schlatter, a painful knee condition associated with growth. He couldn't train 3A for a long time because of the pain, and worked on quads instead.

 

[Violet Bliss]

The reason why Nathan Chen has 'axel issues' is that during the time when he was learning the 3A, he suffered from Osgood-Schlatter, a painful knee condition associated with growth. He couldn't train 3A for a long time because of the pain, and worked on quads instead.

Who need 3As when you can do 6 quads in a program? Leave the 3As for show.

 

[mrrice]

It doesn't bother me that Patrick didn't have the skate of his life. He did enough to win his 10th title and that's what's most important. I'm hoping he takes his skating to the next level in Korea and lights the place up with a Dream Skate.....All the eyes of the world will be on him, including mine, and that's when I hope he has the skate of his dreams....