Listen easy. You can hear Patrick Chan take a nonchalant breath. His time is his time now. Hallelujah. The 27-year-old skater, a 10-time Canadian champion and three-time world champion if you want to work the abacus, is hot-stepping his way across the country on the Stars On Ice tour. Toss that maddening abacus. The wild […]
Patrick Chan
Stars On Ice Becomes Hot Ticket
Outside the Air Canada Centre, there was sturm. Inside there was drama. A post-Olympic Stars On Ice had come to Toronto. But it wasn’t like any Stars On Ice we’d seen in years. The Air Canada Centre was packed. Stuffed right to the rafters. That means 17,000 seats sold. A sell-out in Canada’s largest city. […]
Patrick Chan, a Farewell Look
When I first met Patrick Chan, he was peering over the Hershey Centre rink boards from the ice with only his eyes in sight. He was 10 years old but looked eight, maybe less, at the Canadian national junior championships. As a juvenile, the category on the lowest rung, he took a bronze medal. His […]
The men's short program in Vancouver
VANCOUVER From the mists of Vancouver finally emerged Patrick Chan. And he is shedding some rust. “It’s slippery,” he said, after he fell on his opening quad toe loop, then sliding unceremoniously on his side. Thinking on his feet, he added a triple toe loop to his triple Lutz, but then stepped out of a […]
Patrick Chan, pulling himself to the finish
So much of what Patrick Chan does is linked to emotion, his inner life, how it feels to do something, what it means to him. It gives him a restless foot. And that’s how he’s found himself in Vancouver for the past couple of months to prepare for the national skating championships and Olympics, thousands […]
Hallelujah, Chan finally arrives at Skate Canada
REGINA What a day (or two) Patrick Chan has had. He missed the first men’s practice on Thursday at Skate Canada International. And he arrived just in time to take the ice for the second men’s practice. Without a suitcase. Which means, at the moment, he has no clothes, just practice clothes. And thankfully, his […]
Patrick Chan deletes a quad – for now
You have to feel for these guys. These single men’s skaters who are going to war this season to out-power all who lie in their paths. They will rotate like spinning tops. They will try to defy gravity, shrug at it, taunt it like fiends. They are coming close to Cirque de Soleil performers who […]
Patrick Chan: Dust in the Wind
Three-time world champion Patrick Chan is searching for perspective this Olympic season. Patrick Chan has come a long way since he posed for this family photo. Experience has taught him that he must pick his way thoughtfully about his tasks in a season that could be overwhelming and intense. He’s been there, done that. […]
Jason Brown: bouncing back
If Jason Brown ever found himself in the Hundred Acre Wood, he would be Tigger, hopping and bopping, swinging his arms around everybody with glee, smiling until tomorrow. “Tiggers are wonderful things,” the song goes. “Their tops are made out of rubber. Their bottoms are made out of springs.” The young American is irrepressibly positive, […]
Patrick Chan's new plan of attack
It’s as if Patrick Chan is sweating his way through a nightmare. Just as he is about to grasp the golden ring, it slips out of his reach. He’s running as fast as he can but it feels like slow motion, as his opponents pull away. We know how it feels, when the bottom suddenly […]