Patrick Chan
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Patrick Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian figure skater. He is the 2009 Four Continents champion, the 2009 World silver medalist, the 2007 World Junior silver medalist and the 2008 & 2009 Canadian Champion.
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Personal life
Chan was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He is of Han Chinese descent. His Chinese name is Chan Wai-Kuan. His father, Lewis, immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong when he was a child; his mother, Karen, immigrated from Hong Kong at age 20. Chan speaks English, French, and Cantonese, and attends École secondaire Étienne-Brûlé, a French language school in North York, Toronto.
Chan has won numerous off-ice awards for his accomplishments. In January 2008, the Chinese Cultural Center of Greater Toronto (Youth Chapter) conferred Chan with the 2007 Chinese Canadian Youth of the Year award. In May 2008, Chan was named Asian of the Year in arts and sports by Asia Network magazine. In January 2009, the Globe and Mail named Chan as one of the most prominent sports personalities in their annual Power List in Canadian sports.
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Career
Early career
Patrick Chan started skating at age five. He won three consecutive National titles from 2003 to 2005: the pre-novice title in 2003, the novice title in 2004, and the junior title in 2005.
His win at the Junior level at the 2005 Canadian Figure Skating Championships earned him a trip to the 2005 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. He placed 7th at the event. At the age of fourteen, he was the youngest skater at the event.
In the 2005–2006 season, Chan made his Junior Grand Prix debut. He won the gold medal at the event in Montreal and placed 4th at the event in Slovkia. He qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final, where he placed 5th. He made his senior national debut at the 2006 Canadian Figure Skating Championships. He placed 7th and earned a trip to the 2006 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, where he placed 6th.
2006-2007 season
Despite having only one Junior international medal, Chan made the choice to move up to the senior Grand Prix in the 2006–2007 season. He was assigned two Grand Prix events. Chan made his senior international debut at the 2006 Trophee Eric Bompard, where he placed 5th. He followed it up at the 2006 NHK Trophy, where he placed 7th.
In January 2007, Chan competed at the 2007 Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Halifax and placed 5th. This earned him his third consecutive trip to the Junior Worlds, where he won the silver medal, becoming the first Canadian men's skater since 1984 to win a medal at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
2007-2008 season
Chan began the 2007–2008 Grand Prix season at the 2007 Skate America, where he won the bronze medal. He then went on to win the 2007 Trophee Eric Bompard. He placed 5th at the 2007–2008 Grand Prix Final. After winning the 2008 Canadian Figure Skating Championships at age 17, it was widely reported that Chan had become the youngest Canadian men's champion in history.
Chan competed at the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships in March, 2008. He placed seventh in the short program and eleventh in the free skating, placing ninth overall. Canada had two spots to the 2008 World Championships. Chan's placement, combined with that of Jeffrey Buttle, who won the event, earned Canada three spots to the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships in the men's event.
In April, Chan performed in the show Festa On Ice alongside Kim Yu-Na.
2008-2009 season
Chan began the 2008–2009 season assigned at the 2008 Skate Canada and at the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard. He won both of these Grand Prix Events, thereby qualifying for the 2008-2009 Grand Prix Final, where he placed fifth.
He went to the 2009 Canadian Figure Skating Championships as the defending champion. He performed a clean short program and placed first in that segment of the competition with a score of 88.89 points. Going into the free skate with a 17.00 point lead, he stepped out from a triple flip, which was supposed to be combined with a triple toe-loop, but landed two triple axel jumps cleanly for the first time in his career. He won the free skate with 165.93 by a margin of 30.96 points. With a total score of 254.82 points overall taking the lead by 48.52 points over Vaughn Chipeur, who placed second. Chan qualified for both the 2009 Four Continents Championships and the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships.
In the 2009 Four Continents Championships, Chan placed first in the short program in which he got level 4 for all his spins and also his straight-line footwork. He received a score of 88.90 points in that segment, by a lead over 7.25 points above the second, who was Evan Lysacek. At the free skate, he could do his triple flip-triple toe-loop combination, as well as a triple lutz-double toe-loop-double loop combination and he got level four for all his spins and his straight-line footwork. Chan placed first in the free skate as well with a score of 160.29 points, and won the competition overall with a total of 249.19, 12.04 over silver medalist Evan Lysacek.
At the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, he placed second, 4.65 points behind Evan Lysacek overall.
2009-2010 season
For the 2009-2010 Grand prix events, Chan got assignation for the 2009 Rostelecom Cup and to the 2009 Skate Canada International
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Coaching changes
Chan was coached by Osborne Colson from the beginning of his career until Colson's death in July 2006. Chan switched coaches to Shin Amano, who coached in the same facility. This was a temporary arrangement that lasted six months.
Chan began working with Don Laws as a secondary coach and switched fully to Laws in 2007.
