Patrick Chan: Genius on Ice

This past Sunday evening, we had our first snowfall and ended up with some ice on the sidewalk between our garage and front door.  I love ice – just not that kind.  You may or may not know this about me, but I am a diehard figure skating fan and have been since 1996 (when Michelle Kwan was just coming into her own in the figure skating world).  My favorite skater right now (maybe of all time) is Patrick Chan.  Still just 23 years old, Patrick won his first of seven straight Canadian National Titles at the tender age of 17.  He placed ninth at his first World Championships, but after that he was on the Worlds podium for five straight years (2 silvers, 3 golds).  He has won many other international events as well.  At the 2014 Olympics, he won two silver medals, one individually and one in the inaugural Team Event.  He is taking the current competitive season off but plans to return to competition next season.

Patrick is not my favorite skater because of his accomplishments, however.  He is my favorite skater because of how he skates.  He gains speed seemingly from nowhere, uses his whole body to express his music, and uses his edges like no one I’ve ever seen.  Also, there are no obvious “breaks” in his programs because he always keeps moving.  Patrick has phenomenal agility and balance over his skates, even while executing difficult steps and turns.  His jumps are great too, but it’s how he gets from Point A to Point B that really keeps my attention.

Exhibit A: 2012 Canadian Nationals Short Program, skating to “Take Five”

The extremely nerdy part of me really loves 0:13-0:30 because Patrick’s stroking by itself is awesome.  As the program begins, notice Patrick’s speed across the ice going into his opening jump combination.  This allows him to get great height and maintain the flow on both jump landings.  His second jumping pass, a triple axel (3:29), is so huge it looks like a double.  As fabulous as the jumps and spins are in this program, check out the step sequence!  The current judging system demands a lot from skaters as far as footwork and most of the time it looks as though they are really laboring to get through their step sequences.  Patrick’s footwork, on the other hand, just floats over the ice   From 4:56-5:05, Patrick stays on one foot!  I can’t even imagine standing on one foot, let alone doing so much stuff in the meantime.  He’s not done after that though – the step sequence continues until 5:26.  Doesn’t it make you tired just to watch it?

Exhibit B: 2012 Canadian Nationals Free Skate, skating to Concierto de Aranjuez (2nd movement)

Another thing that the judging system rewards heavily is a program with transitions in and out of the various elements, as opposed to a program with jumping passes but minimal choreography in between.  This fact has led to programs that tend to be “busier” than they were in the past, but Patrick has some of the most watchable “busy” programs I’ve seen.  The program above is full of interesting transitions in and out of the jumps.  For example, 3:21-3:24 is a transition into a triple loop but you barely see the takeoff (unless, like me, you’ve watched the program enough times that you know by heart where all the jumps are).  Another remarkable transition is the flamenco tap right before and after the triple lutz (4:03-4:09).  If the triple lutz had a shaky landing, it threw the whole sequence off, but here it was perfect.  I love both step sequences in this program but particularly want to highlight the second one, which, quite simply, leaves me speechless (4:20-4:53 – the last jumping pass flows directly into it).  Patrick conveys so much emotion through his movement in this step sequence and the sound of his blades is heavenly.  It’s unreal how well it flows and it fits the music so well.  (FYI, the first step sequence is from 1:48-2:21).

Having said all this, at the end of the day, figure skating can be fun too!  In that vein, here is Exhibit C: 2011 Canadian Nationals Exhibition, skating to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

Everything about this video is priceless, from the intro joke with Kurt Browning, to Patrick “waking up” (1:19-1:30), to him flying into a huge double axel after which he pretends to fall over (1:56-2:12), to his attempts at a layback spin and a catchfoot position, moves not typical for male skaters to do (3:18-3:32).  Patrick also pretends to fall over on his footwork (3:59-4:02; whole step sequence 3:50-4:12).  This whole program makes me think of a young skater just having fun during practice.  It takes a skilled skater to make difficult stuff look like fun.  And it’s so nice to watch Patrick skate without his competition face on.  Patrick makes skating seem like so much fun!  One of my favorite things that a commentator has ever said about his skating is that he “makes it look like you could pick up a pair of skates from any store and go and do what he’s doing.”  Not that I ever could skate like he can, but Patrick does make me want to skate.

I am not only grateful for the sport of figure skating, and for Patrick Chan’s skating in particular, but also for YouTube.  All three videos I’ve shared in this post are from Canadian Nationals, meaning I would never have been able to watch these performances if not on YouTube.  To tell you the truth, Patrick Chan is the reason I started caring about foreign National Championships in the first place! 🙂  I’ve never been to a live figure skating event (and with my vision I wouldn’t be able to see much anyway) but through TV and the internet, I can enjoy it nonetheless.  I think figure skating is pretty darn cool (pun intended).