Canadian Patrick Chan has been setting an amateur seniors men’s skating performance bar for some time. Internationally recognized and esteemed, Chan could sweep hometown crowd and deliver a bid for Olympic gold that resonates with the audience. Ranked 9th in the world, Chan showed a particularly strong 2009 skating year of European competition in ISU and Grand Prix skating events. His strongest rival may be Evan Lysacek for grace, expression, and classic delivery of conventional skating mores.
But is he hungry enough to fight with the older men whose stakes for the Vancouver arena ice are at critical mass? Chan may have one more Olympic season in his chronology, almost all of the others senior skaters do not. Patrick Chan won the Canadian National Championship at age 17. His triple axel and triple flip jumping skills may be the critical dividing line between a medal showing in Vancouver and a mere at-bat. Toronto native Chan will have many friends in the Olympics arena when he represents Canada in 2010.
Born in 1990, Chan is a younger man than many of veterans fighting for Vancouver glory in 2010. He enjoys a strong cultural acceptance and promotion among Asian Canadians. His senior skating career has overlapped many of the Americans without brushing up significantly against the powerful Russian skaters. Chan was the 2009 silver medalist at the World Championships, and suffered a slight injury that dampened his Grand Prix participation in the last year or so.
Chan changed coaches as recently as January of 2010. Yet Chan is probably the only skater shy of American Evan Lysacek audiences would gladly watch despite falls and failed jumps.
Vancouver Olympics Placement Estimation:
If Chan brings a new routine, perfect jumping, energetic delivery and almost guaranteed audience appeal, he could overshadow even Plushenko for a feel-good Olympics tableau. Failure to perform technically, however, among a weighted stratosphere of global men’s skating talent might mean Chan not even making the senior round.
Dream Routine: Chan could capitalize on his Asian heritage by delivering a blockbuster Judo or karate “Kung Fu Fighting’ theme.
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