Patrick Chan felled by ‘dumb mistakes’

At the Cup of Russia Grand Prix in Moscow over the weekend, Patrick Chan finally broke the ice.

True, he fell three times in the long program, to take the silver medal behind Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic, losing by only 3.10 points after “some dumb mistakes.” And although the 19-year-old fell on his quad in the long program, he cleared another hurdle: travel to Russia.

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A Figure Eight

“Europe is not always the best for me,” Chan said on a conference call. “I’m not the greatest at long flights.”

But there was particular angst about going to Russia. It’s not so much that he was heading into hostile territory, into a country that had spawned quad-hopping stars such as Evgeny Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin, both Olympic champions. It was the culture.

He’d heard stories about the food. His former Toronto classmate, Paul Poirier, got food poisoning when he competed there last year and skated his free dance on the edge of his throat.

Chan was invited to Cup of Russia last year, but had to withdraw because he tore the gastrocnemius muscle in his left calf, an injury that plagued him during the Olympic season. He wasn’t weeping.

But this time, in the draft process among Grand Prix hosts, the Russians invited him back.

He arrived early in Moscow – on Monday, three days before practice sessions started and four days before the competition. “I really enjoyed it,” he said. He saw the Kremlin. He saw Red Square.

“That made me really comfortable being here,” Chan said. “I was really familiar with the people and the environment. The crowd was great. They were really supportive. I wouldn’t mind coming back at all.”

Still, Chan says long-distance flights don’t agree with him, and now that he’s qualified for the Grand Prix Final, from Dec. 9 to 12 in Beijing, he’ll have an even longer flight ahead of him. Moscow is 10 time zones away from Colorado Springs, Colo., where Chan trains. Beijing is 15.

Chan says he tries to fall asleep on flights, but it’s difficult. When he lands, his legs “don’t feel good.

“I’m more of a feeling kind of person,” he said. “I’m really picky on how I feel before I go out and skate. If I don’t feel good, then I give myself a little disadvantage in my mind, that I’m not going to skate well because I don’t feel good, instead of fighting it through.”

Chan says he starting to learn that he should get up in the plane and move around during long flights. And he’s learned to keep himself busy and “try to keep my legs a little more awake during the flight. I think I’ll be good going to China. It [the trip to Russia], is going to be really helpful.”

In Beijing, some of Chan’s competitors will include Daisuke Takahashi, the reigning world champion from Japan, who is undefeated this year and tops the qualifying list; Nobunari Oda of Japan; and Verner, a Toronto-based Czech skater who defeated Chan without the benefit of quads in Russia.

Verner, with a flair for showmanship, was one of the few who was within Chan’s realm in presentation marks in Russia – and he defeated the Canadian on the technical mark.

The Grand Prix in France this coming weekend will determine other Grand Prix Final competitors. There, Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, American Brandon Mroz (Chan’s training partner in Colorado Springs) and Florent Amodio of France will all be trying to make a case.