Last updated: Sunday, March 5, 2017

What a year 2016 has been for Patrick! Below is a recap of post-GPF events, as well as a summary of this year’s performance highlights. I included anything Pchiddy-related in the last two weeks of the year, of course!

DSC Champions Ice Revue

Patrick is headlining the Detroit Skating Club’s “Skate for Dreams Champions Ice Revue” to raise money for the Special Olympics on January 7th!

See this article for more details. Check out my Events Page for more upcoming events!

 

Recent Events

2017 New Year Greeting

Patrick and his training mates grouped together for their new year photos!

My new year graphic for all fans of Patrick!

Patrick’s 26th Birthday!

I was delighted to see all of the birthday well-wishes from fans to Patrick. Here are a few favorites:

And my birthday wishes to Patrick:

Side By Side Triple Axels!

Soon after Christmas, Patrick and Nathan went back to work, and here’s what they did in practice. It was Nathan who quipped that they were the two worst 3A jumpers in the ISU.

Nice timing, guys!

A Merry Pchiddy Christmas

Patrick posted this shot of himself with three adorable napping dogs belonging to the Blackmer family. He had spent Christmas with them last year as well.

Maggie Blackmer confirmed that the pups were hers:

And of course Christmas is a time to play electronic games of all kinds, so I was delighted to find one that knew about Patrick:

I’m sure Pchiddy would approve!

Japanese Interview

Patrick did an interview with the Japanese press during the Grand Prix Final in Marseille. Here is what he said to his fans via video:

Patrick: Hi everyone, it’s Patrick Chan here at the Grand Prix Final in Marseille. I want to say thank you to all the fans in Japan. You guys have been the motivation and such a huge part of my journey, my career in figure skating as an amateur athlete and as a professional athlete, so… you’ve made my dreams come true, so thank you so much. Keep an eye out for this season. You know, I want to make it to the World Championships, Four Continents… I’ve been looking forward to those two events and performing my best, and… hopefully, doing two quad toes and a quad sal in the long program and skating two clean programs would be the greatest accomplishment for this season, thanks.

LCBO Icewine Event

Patrick and several fans braved the wintry blasts in Toronto to attend a meet and greet at the Summerhill LCBO. While there, he showed off his now well-worn silver medal from Sochi and autographed bottles of his trademark icewine.

Lucky fans of Pchiddy – some cried when they met him:

As I had pointed out on GS Forums, I noticed that in the past two months Patrick’s autograph has changed a bit from previous years. In the past, his signatures all looked like this. Now, sometimes the “a” in “Chan” looks looped like this. According to graphology experts, a left-sided loop generally means self-deceit, but it can be interpreted in either a positive or negative way. I choose the positive interpretation, which is that Patrick is undergoing a life transformation and developing more belief and confidence in himself.

Other Recently Posted Photos

Patrick with his music man and choreographer:

The Canadian figure skating team holiday card, where the Gingerbread Man has no fear of Patrick eating him:

And here is the matching video holiday greeting:

Mona made a nice GIF of Patrick from the video above:

Photo of Patrick at a Japanese airport, probably during last summmer:

Laurilla’s Post-GPF Party Story!

Fan Laurilla was gracious to allow me to share her story of how she met Patrick during and after the Grand Prix Final. On Thursday (the 8th) she had asked him for a picture and held a cup of coffee for him. She said, “After that, every time he saw me and my group he always greeted us or said goodbye.”

On Saturday night (as well as Sunday night) he was in good spirits after attending a private party at the Sofitel Hotel and went out with part of the American and Canadian teams. At 2 AM she and her friends met them in the street and shared the same way to the vieux-port and center of the city. Laurilla said she “got to talk to him then (nothing special… just a ‘have fun tonight’ that he thanked and wished the same to me and ‘thank you, bye'”.

On Monday morning, Laurilla’s friend was at the Marseille airport and overheard a last call for “Patrick Chan”, who probably missed his flight.

2016 Highlights

Patrick had some notable accomplishments during the year, as listed below:

January 2016

Canadian Nationals: First short program score of 103.58 and an 8th championship title!

February 2016

Four Continents Championships, Taipei: First clean long program in international competition with two quad toes and two triple axels, scoring a historic 203.99! This was Patrick’s very best skate of the 2015-2016 season and the highest score he had ever received for a free program.

November 2016

Cup of China, Beijing: First quadruple salchow attempted (fell) in an otherwise clean long program in international competition. For the second time this year, Patrick won a competition against Jin Boyang by one point.

December 2016

Grand Prix Final, Marseille: First quadruple salchow landed in a long program in international competition! Yes, he fell on three jumps, but still did a beautiful program.

As 2016 comes to an end, I look forward to cheering on Patrick as he skates into 2017 with his best ever performances at Four Continents and Worlds! Onward and upward!

What was your favorite program of 2016? Leave a comment below. As always, thank you for reading this blog and for supporting Patrick!