Chan has big mountain to climb for Olympic glory

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 | 3:19 AM ET

By Brandon Hicks, CBC Sports

Patrick Chan reacts to the scoring after his men's short program, with coach Lori Nicol. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The ending of Patrick Chan's short program Tuesday night summed up his skating routine perfectly: Just a bit off.

And at the Olympics, that's all it takes to threaten to knock you off the podium.

Chan finished behind his music and had several small errors in his short program, which added up to a seventh-place finish with the men's free skate looming on Thursday.

With the elite skaters at the top of the standings definitely hitting their stride, it will take the performance of Chan's life plus slip-ups from the men ahead of him to give Chan a sniff at medal glory.

The young Canadian champion's program started shaky and scattered little mistakes throughout.

Chan stepped out of the landing on his triple Axel, his first element in the program. He later stumbled on a footwork sequence, which is his specialty — though he covered up that error very well.

But his most glaring gaffe, the one that could dog him as he tries to sleep before the free skate Thursday, was the time violation.

It's a mistake almost unheard of among top international skaters. Chan wasn't set when his music, Tango de los Exilados, finished.

"I was a bit slow throughout the program, and that's probably why I was late with the music at the end," Chan told the Toronto Star.

Big mountain to climb

It meant a one-point deduction on a score that was already putting Chan at the bottom of a high mountain to climb in the free skate: 81.12, well off his personal best.

"This is the Olympics. You can't afford any mistakes and that's a perfect example," Chan said.

Not when you're facing possibly the deepest men's figure skating field in history. And none were better than Russia's defending Olympic champion, Evgeni Plushenko, who made his routine almost look easy as he laid down the gauntlet with a 90.85 score.

Right there with him is American Evan Lysacek, the defending world champion, with 90.30 points. Daisuke Takahashi from Japan is just behind with 90.25 points. The next skater is over five points back of that.

All of this makes Chan's task monumentally hard, heading into the free skate.

It looks as if his comeback, if it happens, won't include the quad. Chan, who hasn't needed it during his past successes, said before the Olympics that he would not try it during the competition. He reiterated that he wouldn't be going for it in the free skate.

"I have to do what I have to do," he told the Star. "I have been training for the last few weeks without doing it. I don't see why I need to add it."

The thing that might bother Chan the most is that, up until this season, he would have been considered a lock on an Olympic medal instead of being looped into the bigger "contender" category, a group that includes more than a half-dozen skaters.

Winning a silver medal at the world championships in 2009 tends to do that.

Injury setback

That was before a calf injury set him back, conditioning-wise, forcing him to miss all of the Grand Prix events this season except Skate Canada in November, where he finished sixth. It's an event he had won in 2008.

Add to that the sudden resignation of his coach Don Laws, which happened in January, days before his win at the Canadian championships, and you have a recipe for uncertainty heading into the Games.

But regardless of his finish Thursday, the Toronto resident definitely has one thing on his side: Time.

At 19, Chan is the present and future of Canadian figure skating. He'll be back for the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014 and it's a good bet he'll probably make a go for 2018. The sky's the limit for him.

As for right now, his focus is solely on a free skate that will surely bring the house down at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, regardless of where he finishes in the standings.

"[My short program] sets up perfect for the comeback," he told the Star.

We'll find out either way on Thursday.