Figure Skating

Canada's budding skating star, Patrick Chan, is back after dealing with a calf injury. And he's back, at Skate Canada this week, with his difficult routines and his candid comments.

Yesterday, he had some words for Olympic defending champion Evgeny Plushenko of Russia, who has made a comeback this year after three years away.

Plushenko won his only Grand Prix event, in Russia, with 240.65 points, the second highest score for a man this year in the series.

Chan's record is 249.19 points, set at the Four Continents Championships last year. His score at the previous world championships, when he won the silver medal, was 237.58. Evan Lysacek of the United States won the title with 242.23.

"Really, I don't care," said Chan of Plushenko's score.

But he missed competing against Plushenko - he had to skip the Grand Prix in Russia because of his left calf injury - and he regrets it dearly, wondering how he would have stacked up against the Olympic champion, who got high presentation marks despite, as many say, lacking presentation.

Chan laughs when asked about Plushenko's memorable gesture during the long program in Moscow, throwing his finger in the air, to show that he was still No..1.

"It wasn't like I didn't practise that day because I was so upset," Chan said.

"It was silly. I think it was disrespectful on his part.

"But he was in his hometown. When you're in your hometown, you feel so comfortable you can do that. I can somewhat understand."

Chan agrees that Plushenko's routines lacked a lot of transitional moves - he sailed from jump to jump without complications in between - but "he could get away with it because he's a former Olympic champion, and he's in Russia and in his own country and he's got judges that really appreciate his skating," Chan, 18, said.

"But I think, slowly, judges will realize that it's still pretty early in the season, and come the Olympics, it will be different."

He said Plushenko has changed a lot of his program since Cup of Russia. And, he doesn't think Plushenko realizes there are other skaters who have evolved since the Russian took a break.

Still, Chan said he was happy to see Plushenko back - and healthy. "I respect him for coming back, at his age. I know how difficult it is," he said. Plushenko is 27.

Chan said he is excited to compete this week because "trust me, it sucks really bad to sit back and watch other guys compete when you're sitting at home, hearing about it," he said.

Since his injury, Chan has had to cut back on the number of jumps in training, and for two weeks, he largely lost the chance to practise triple Axels and quads.

He still feels twinges when he does triple Axels, triple toe loops and quad toe loops. "I get really nervous sometimes," he said. "I don't want to tear it again."

He won't do more than five quads in a session, and if he pops three Axels, he'll stop and go on to something else.

But he says he feels great. "It's nothing like when I first injured it," he said. "I couldn't even stand on my leg when I first hurt it."

You won't see a quad from Chan at this competition, and Chan says he can't guarantee that there will be a quad in his routine by the Vancouver Olympics, but he continues to practise them. He says his body will tell him how much he can do. He'll play it by ear.

Still, his injury has made him aware of how unimportant the quad is, Chan said. Judges watch for quality, on how jumps are landed and held. If a skater holds a great landing, he can bump up his score with bonus points so much that it makes up for a quad, Chan said.

"Hands down, I believe [a quad is not necessary to win in Vancouver]," Chan said.

Men who did quads last year, such as Nobunari Oda and Evan Lysacek aren't doing quads this year. Oda has won two Grand Prix, one with the highest score this year: 242.53. Lysacek has been first and second in his two events.

For now, Chan is itching to show off his new programs, which haven't been seen by international judges. Although his short program uses the same music as last year, he said it has been so drastically altered, nobody would recognize it.

And his new long program shows off fewer complex transitions in favour of more performance highlights, something that is new for him.

"I'm so excited to show you guys how much I've improved from last year," Chan said. "I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it.''