Canada's Patrick Chan has eyes set on 2018 Olympics since returning from year-long break
Three-time world champion Patrick Chan will be the first to admit the decision to come back to the sport of figure skating was much harder than his decision to leave the sport after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
For the last decade, Chan has dominated the figure skating world, but the constant grind of a sport that demands total perfection can be physically and emotionally draining.
Chan has been around so long and been so successful, winning eight national titles and two Olympic silver medals, that you can easily forget that he’s still only 25 years old.
But now that he’s back, he knows the break has given him a fresh start — not just in figure skating, but in life.
“No matter what, I have no regrets of the decision to take the time off. I needed it. Whether I was going to quit, retire or take a year off. I needed to start fresh,” said Chan, who is in Edmonton this weekend to take part in the Stars on Ice Tour on Friday night at Rexall Place.
His year back on the ice was filled with many ups and downs and there were moments when he questioned why he came back. Despite a disappointing fifth-place finish at the world championships last month, he still had a great season, winning three major competitions.
“It was a very interesting year. My expectations weren’t necessarily met. I felt I was thrown into the fire quite quickly,” said Chan.
“Some things didn’t come back as easily. Mainly the competitive mentality … I kind of lost it. I had to take a lot of time and have a lot of patience to realize that I am still one of the best skaters in the world … but skating is now part of my life — not my whole life.”
Chan took the time away from figure skating to focus his attention on his goals and dreams outside of the sport he’s dedicated his life to.
He enjoyed being able to explore other passions outside of figure skating. He’s aiming to build a figure skating school in Vancouver and teach the sport that’s given him so many opportunities.
“I want to one day build one of the best figure skating centres in the world and teach the sport. It’s something I’m very passionate about,” said Chan.
“I’m not rushing into it right now, but it’s something I will attack more heavily after 2018.”
Heading into next season, Chan is shifting his skating focus. He’s always prided himself as being the best skater from both a technical and artistic standpoint, but the sport on the men’s side has been shifted to the technical aspects the last few years.
The more quads a skater can land, the better. Chan used to have three quads in his short and long programs, but now skaters are incorporating as many as five.
He took this year to build his program back up to get to that level.
“In order to be at the top, you have to have the quad. It’s a good staple, and it’s a great technical difficulty, but it’s getting away from the purity of skating. It’s almost become robotic,” said Chan.
“It’s great to push myself artistically, but it uses all my energy to do the more difficult jumps. These next two years are focused on going out and getting the job done technically.
“My biggest goal now is go and have two programs that I can feel very proud of and skate them well. I was able to do that with my long program this season. Once I can put both of them together, it will be quite an incredible feeling.”
His attention is now focused on the 2018 Olympics. He’s going to give it everything he has to make it to Pyeongchang, South Korea, for his third and final Olympic Games where he hopes to capture the gold medal that slipped away from him in 2014 in Sochi.
Having spent his entire career having had high expectations placed on himself to achieve the ultimate success, Chan now can just focus on him and his skating goals. He has nothing left to prove.
“I feel like I can fully skate for myself now. It’s a nice feeling to have after all these years,” said Chan.

He enjoyed being able to explore other passions outside of figure skating. He’s aiming to build a figure skating school in Vancouver and teach the sport that’s given him so many opportunities.
“I want to one day build one of the best figure skating centres in the world and teach the sport. It’s something I’m very passionate about,” said Chan.
里边最吸引我的是这段，群群已经在考虑当教练了吗？我相信他教学生的话，一定会是个最棒的教练