VANCOUVER — Patrick Chan went back to his room Tuesday night, watched some TV and had no trouble falling asleep.
Wednesday morning was like waking up to lousy weather. Reality had rolled in like dark clouds.
“I just kind of woke up this morning in a crappy mood,” said the 19-year-old from Toronto.
Chan, who arrived in Vancouver lugging the heavy expectations as one of Canada’s top medal contenders in figure skating, finds himself having to claw back from a disappointing seventh-place finish in Tuesday’s short program. He needs the skate of his life Thursday to have any shot at the podium.
He was back on the practice ice at Trout Lake on Wednesday morning, hoping to shake off the effects of his disheartening short program that had him numb with disbelief only a few hours earlier.
Chan takes comfort in Jeffrey Buttle’s performance at the 2006 Olympics in Italy — in sixth place after stumbling through a flawed short program, the Canadian battled back to win a bronze medal.
“That’s one thing I thought about, right when I got off the ice,” Chan said. “Mike (Slipchuk, Skate Canada’s high performance director) told me about that. . . I think that’s what I have to keep in mind, that I’m not out of it.”
Russian star Evgeni Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic champion who came out of retirement for another shot at Games glory, is the leader, while American Evan Lysacek is second and Daisuke Takahashi of Japan is third. In a men’s field that’s being touted as perhaps the finest ever assembled, less than a point separates the top three. Chan is about nine points behind.
The reigning world silver medallist has managed to rebound this season from a variety of setbacks: illness, injury and the last minute shock of his coach calling it quits. But the one thing he couldn’t possibly make up for Tuesday was his lack of experience amid a star-studded group that features four world champions. The Canadian youngster, the only teenager among the top eight, admitted to being overwhelmed when he stepped on the ice.
“I think it’s partly to do with my not having as much experience as some of these guys,” said Chan. “They have about four more years of competition, including this year because I missed out a lot. I think I’ve been still doubting myself.
“Physically, no question it’s all OK. But it’s just up here,” he said. “(Now it’s about) going out and skating from the heart, not thinking about the medal, not thinking about the audience, not thinking of wanting to skate my best in Vancouver. I just want to do what I love to do. And that’s why the judges are here, to watch my program. I want to show them what they’ve been waiting for.”
Chan was hit with a bad bout of the flu in September and tore his calf muscle a couple of weeks later, an injury that kept him off the ice for several weeks. The Olympics are only his third competition this season. Then a month out from Vancouver, coach Don Laws announced he was dumping Chan, upset by the fact the skater was spending more time training in Colorado Springs with technical specialist Christy Krall than at Laws’ home rink in Florida.
Chan believes the benefits he gained from training at altitude — Colorado Springs sits about 1,800 metres above sea level — will pay off in Thursday’s gruelling long program, which Krall said is as physically taxing as running the 1,500 metres. Fitness, in other words, could mean the difference between crossing first or being left in the dust.