Olympic silver medalist and three-time World champion Patrick Chan said he’s “come very close to just calling it quits and moving on” this season in his return to the sport after a one-year break, according to Canadian media.
Chan, speaking ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Championships, said he specifically nearly retired after last month’s Grand Prix Final, where he was in last place of six skaters after the short program and finished fourth.
“I definitely had a week where I didn’t want to be at the rink,” Chan said, according to Canadian media. “Skated a session and said, ‘Screw it, I just want to get off. I’m just not there mentally, I’m just checked out.’”
Chan, 25, was the oldest men’s skater at the Grand Prix Final. He goes for an eighth straight Canadian title this weekend, not counting the last season that he skipped.
Chan is the only skater to beat Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu this season, doing so at Skate Canada in October.
“I have to move on from competing at some point,” Chan said, according to the Toronto Sun. “It’s whether I want to do it now or do I want to do it in two years.”
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