http://www.ctvolympics.ca/worldcupwatch ... nning+chan
By Beverley Smith, The Globe and Mail Posted Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:27 PM ET
Is time running out for Chan?
KITCHENER, Ont. - The clock is ticking toward the Vancouver Olympics and Canadian champion Patrick Chan is hearing it, loudly.
He admits he's a little concerned especially after the way things went this week at Skate Canada that it's looming so closely. His long program on Saturday didn't go much better than his short program on Friday.
On Saturday, he finished sixth in the men's event after a sub-par performance. He is the reigning world silver medalist.
Chan will miss the Grand Prix Final, and in his absence Nobunari Oda and Daisuke Takahashi of Japan, Evan Lysacek, Johnny Weir, Jeremy Abbott, all of the United States, and Brian Joubert of France will go.
Abbott earned his way to the Final by virtue of winning the gold medal at Skate Canada on Saturday, while Takahashi earned his ticket after finishing second. Neither really expected to get to the Tokyo final after finishing out of the medals in their first Grand Prix.
Takahashi actually won the long program on Saturday without a quad, while Abbott landed a beautiful one and finished second.
Overall, Abbott won with 232.99 points over Takahashi with 231.31. Alban Preaubert of France finished third with 212.28.
Chan's total score was 198.77.
Chan started his long program strongly with a triple Axel - double toe loop combination, and then a triple-triple combination which elicited cheers from the audience. But then he under-rotated his second triple Axel and things slid from there.
"Just getting back up was very hard,'' Chan said. His next trick was a three-jump combination that started with a triple Lutz.
But the steps are hard going into that element, and he needed a lot of speed to do it properly. After falling, he had to build up the speed again, and he couldn't do it.
"I had to build all the speed back up just from that little corner,'' he said.
He fell on the Lutz and the rest of the combination was not possible.
He doubled a triple loop and when he finally landed another triple Lutz, the crowd cheered wildly. He slipped off an edge on the triple Salchow and fell for a third time. He lost three points on the falls alone.
Still, the crowd gave Chan a noisy standing ovation. And when he did fall, they'd applaud again, to encourage him.
"The crowd was really overwhelming,'' Chan said. "But it was definitely more of a help pushing me along than a disadvantage. It was really helpful to have a great crowd.''
Chan explained that a combination of things were his downfall. "It's my first Grand Prix,'' he said. "If it was the beginning of the season, I don't think it would be as much of a concern for some people. But it isn't for me.''
Chan admitted that he may have overdone his warm-up before he skated, because he was exhausted at the end of his routine. "I lost three-quarters of my gas tank by the half-way mark,'' he said.
His warm-up? He has a series of "muscle activation" exercises, to activate the muscles that he uses for his elements. Things like leg raises to activate his gluts, the main muscle group necessary for jumps.
Perhaps, Chan said, he should have done three-quarters of the exercises in the morning before his practice, and had done only one-quarter of them before he actually skated.
"I found out a lot of good stuff,'' he said.
"I'll just have to talk with my entourage and see what I need to change,'' he said. "I'm just a little behind all these guys. These guys are flying jumps, no problem, and if I had my first Grand Prix in Russia, I think I'd be in the same situation. It's hard to watch them doing great.
"I just feel a little late. I feel like the kid who is kind of the slowest in the class.''
And so what if he misses the Grand Prix Final. He hasn't had good luck at them anyway, he said. He's been fifth the past two years, although last year, he went as one of the favourites.
"It stinks not to go,'' he said. "But then it's all the way to Japan. It's quite a ways for Olympic year. especially with my injury. I don't want to travel too much because it can irritate my leg a little bit.''
But the clock is ticking. Even though he's a little concerned, Chan doesn't think he'll be in a race to be ready in time.
Still every day, he hears someone telling him about the number of days left to the Olympic Games. (On Saturday, there were 83 days to go.)
"It's definitely hard to think about it,'' he said. "But I'll take it day by day and stay in the present. I think it's the biggest key to stay in the present. Life's too short to rush through it.''
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http://www.examiner.com/x-20118-Figure- ... -the-Final
Abbott wins in Canada to qualify for the Final
U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott has seemingly found his rhythm this week at Skate Canada, with a successful quad toe that helped carry him to the gold medal. This win assures that he will be able to defend his Grand Prix Final title in Tokyo in two weeks. Things did not turn out as planned for home favorite Patrick Chan, however, as he is still trying to get his competitive legs under him in his first competition of the season.
Abbott landed his first quad this season and seems to be building momentum heading into the second half of the season. He landed seven triples in addition to his quad, opting to double his second triple axel. His score of 232.99 bested his fifth-place effort at NHK Trophy by almost 25 points, setting him up well for the Grand Prix Final in two weeks, where he will join fellow Americans Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir.
The silver medal went to 2007 World silver medalist Daisuke Takahashi, who finished first in the free skate but narrowly missed the gold by fewer than two points. He chose to take out his quad toe but was credited with eight triple jumps. But the slight errors in the loop and the salchow made the difference between first and second. His Program Components Score (PCS) was the best in the field and one of the best of the season so far.
Three-time French bronze medalist Alban Preaubert took his sixth career Grand Prix medal with a bronze. He had an eight-triple free skate that was his best of the season, putting him in contention for one of the two spots on the French Olympic team.
Skate Canada was supposed to have been World silver medalist Patrick Chan’s big Olympic season debut, after his first appearance in the Grand Prix was derailed by injury. But his performances this week, though crisp as usual, were full of mistakes on his jumps. After a promising start to his free skate, Chan unraveled after falling hard on his second triple axel. Two more falls followed, likely because he was still reeling from the first fall. He was noticeably uncomfortable as a result of the fall after the free skate. His total score of 198.77 kept him in sixth place.


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