Gazette

CAROL LAWRENCE, THE GAZETTE

Part-time Colorado Springs figure skater Patrick Chan has won six of his past eight international events since he placed fifth at the 2010 Vancouver Games. He's competing at the Four Continents Championships that are Thursday through Sunday at World Arena.

Springs figure skater Chan optimistic for Four Continents

February 07, 2012 3:59 PM

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BRIAN GOMEZ

THE GAZETTE

Patrick Chan has been perfect all season, practically untouchable since the last Olympics. That makes him the favorite for the Four Continents Championships – and he admits it.

“I would think that I have probably the best chance to get a gold medal,” Chan said, with practice for Four Continents starting Tuesday at World Arena and competition Thursday through Sunday, featuring 102 figure skaters from 17 countries, including 18 Americans.

The part-time Colorado Springs resident has won six of his past eight international events following a fifth-place finish at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and he’s the reigning world champion, a two-time Grand Prix Final winner and a five-time Canadian national champ.

Chan, 21, of Toronto, simply is capable of skating at a higher level, his short program and his free skate scores from worlds last year new records, along with his total last month at Canadian nationals, where he hit the 300-point mark. With help from Broadmoor Skating Club coach Christy Krall, Springs choreographer Lori Nichol and Springs movement and balance coach Kathy Johnson, his spins are more fluid, and his footwork is more precise.

Perhaps just as important, Chan has maintained the risk in each of his routines. He called his short a “very catchy, very popular” jazz-blues segment that includes a quadruple toe-triple toe combination, a triple axel and a triple lutz, and his long is a “beautiful” Spanish piece with two quads and a triple axel. The short “shows a bit of a lighter side of me,” he said. “Like more like who I am off the ice – very relaxed, very smiley all the time.” The free skate is “more mature, more serious,” he said. “It brings out a more emotional side.”

At Canadian nationals, Chan said he achieved “a lot of things that were challenging me earlier in the season, and it has put me in a really good mental state.” Plus, he insists that he’s “a different skater than I was going into Vancouver,” noting changes in his “mental perception of skating and why I’m skating and kind of finding the passion for it again.”

Grand Prix Final runner-up Daisuke Takahashi of Japan is maybe the only person capable of overtaking Chan, especially after U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott, a former Broadmoor member, withdrew last week with an injured right hip. “It’s constantly a challenge for me because I’m pushing the bar,” said Chan, the 2009 Four Continents gold medalist. “And I know people are working extremely hard to try to knock me off the top of the podium.”

Still, “if I put out what I put out every day in practice, if I put out the best program and if I stay on my feet, I’ll be hard to beat,” Chan added. “That’s all I have to concern myself with. I don’t have to concern myself with the other skaters. It’s all about me and focusing on what I need to do. … I have a lot of great momentum and motivation and confidence.”

FOUR CONTINENTS FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Where: World Arena

When: Thursday through Sunday

The field: More than 100 figure skaters from 17 countries, including 18 Americans, competing in all three disciplines – men’s and women’s singles, pairs and ice dancing

If you go: Tickets range from $9 to $25 for single sessions, $100 to $200 for all sessions. Single-session tickets for military are $5, available only at the World Arena box office.

More info: www.2012fourcontinents.com

THURSDAY

Men’s short program, 6:45 p.m.

FRIDAY

Women’s short program, 1 p.m.

Men’s free skate, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

Pairs short program, 1 p.m.

Short dance, 3:30 p.m.

Women’s free skate, 7 p.m.

SUNDAY

Pairs free skate, noon