Last updated: Wednesday, December 14, 2016

See @Kyrn23‘s beautiful onsite photos of Patrick, a transcript of the excellent British Eurosport commentary on his free program, and a collection of media about Patrick that posted after the conclusion of the 2016 Cup of China competition! For my roundup about Patrick’s free program competition, go here. For info, videos and photos on the short program competition, go here.

Transcript of British Eurosport Commentary

Out of all of the English-language commentary about Patrick’s free skate at Cup of China, I thought that the British Eurosport commentary (video) was the best one. Below is a transcription of what they said about “A Journey”:

Well, it’s a tough act to follow, but we’ve got a guy up next who knows all about handling pressure. He’s a three-time world champion; winner of Skate Canada this year, looking for a place in the Grand Prix Finals. You know his second mark’s going to be good. He’s always good at the components; he goes into this lying in third place after the short. A little bit shaky on the jumps. Can he put that behind him and skate a blinder here in the free? “A Journey” by Eric Radford is the music for Canada’s Patrick Chan.

(After the 4T3T)
He handles the pressure perfectly! Quad toe triple toe. Couldn’t have been better. There’s the axel! Very solid start for Patrick.

Oh! Down on the quadruple salchow! Didn’t quite get the elevation there.

Just a master class in skating skills.

We’ve got another quad lined up here. And he does it! And there’s the triple axel with the double toe on the end. No problem with the loop. Oh yes, a beautiful three-jump combination, triple lutz at the start of it… and there’s the flip.

Just watch the edge quality through this piece of footwork.

Come on, pressure? What pressure? Absolutely incredible! Well, he’s not a three-time world champion for nothing. Technically, you can see that … almost a match for our leader, Jin Boyang, who remember, had four quads in the program. Where Patrick is going to gain though, is the program components score is going to be through the roof. And you know the grade of execution for all those elements is going to be pluses with the exception, of course, of the fall on the quad salchow.

That, to be honest, for me is one of the best free skate programs I’ve seen from him. His ice coverage is second to none. That’s why his components score is always so good, and when you put it together with jumps of this quality… Look at that – always with his weight over the skate. Just fantastic – perfect position for the toe loop on the end, and back into that classic line.

Here’s the axel – just a lovely running edge coming out – transitions straight back into work mode. Here’s the salchow – the one mistake in the program. Just went off – don’t really think he got the lift on that one.

But the footwork was, wow, to die for. It just… he makes the ice melt, doesn’t he? Can’t imagine what it must feel like to be able to skate with that sort of quality – always with your weight over the skate.

And there that second quad toe – had to work hard on that – but after that it was plain sailing right to the end. Triple lutz, double toe double loop. Spins always beautiful, positions, attention to detail – look at the hand. You got a great twist position there which alone is difficult, but he does everything with so much grace.

Yeah, that was an absolute joy. Well, 195.13 would give him the lead. It depends on that components score. Remember, Jin Boyang had a 13-point lead going into this. It’s 196.31! He does get the lead! He just gets it back, would you believe it! So, 279.72 and just over a point in front of Jin Boyang.

Video Clips from Cup of China and After

A couple of days after winning Cup of China, Patrick was back at the rink inspiring younger students on how to do a proper camel spin:

Alex and Maia’s complete vlog of Cup of China, featuring Patrick at 4:46, 5:07 (4T and shrugging as if it were nothing), 5:18 (group jump), 5:26 (yelling out “Beijing!”), and 6:16 (where he is late lugging his heavy luggage out of the hotel).

Patrick and the COC winners doing their group jump at the exhibition gala:

Patrick and coach Marina in the Cup of China kiss & cry, during the slow-motion playback of his jumps:

Patrick coming in from the ice (fancam):

Kyrn23’s Photos of Patrick at Cup of China

Fan K (@Kryn23) was onsite at the competition and took the following beautiful photos of Patrick which she graciously allowed me to post here. Patrick clearly had a great time!

Patrick’s exhibition gala program:

Patrick on the podium with Boyang Jin and Sergei Voronov at the victory ceremony – part fun and part seriousness.

Patrick hugged teammate Dylan Moscovitch and chatted with Skate Canada High Performance Director Mike Slipchuk before the victory ceremony.

Patrick took a picture with his coach, Marina Zoueva, and training mates / ice dance champions Alex and Maia Shibutani.

Patrick with coach Marina Zoueva after his free skate:

Stills from Patrick’s free skate:

A contemplative Patrick before the 6-minute warmup, as captured by K’s telephoto lens.

Many thanks to K for allowing her photos to be shared on this site!

More Photos from Cup of China

Super cute photo of Patrick enjoying a dance with Kaitlyn Weaver at the exhibition gala practice!

Patrick with the Canadian skating team – where the men were mostly wore bow ties:

Patrick managed to hang on to everything as he posed for a picture with a little fan:

My screenshot of Patrick from the Cup of China banquet livestream video. He was smiling but clueless that they were calling him to say hi to the Chinese fans on video.

Photo of the podium showing Boyang and Sergei seemingly pointing at Patrick as if to honor him. The headline of this article called Patrick a “handsome guy”.

More pics of Patrick hugging Dylan before the victory ceremony:

Patrick up close with the fans:

Fan Art

Cute drawing of Patrick going to the Grand Prix Final with his rabbit from Skate Canada and his panda from Cup of China!