The Liberty summer competition in Aston, Pennsylvania has become an annual event for some of the world’s elite skaters to test new material before the fall international season begins.

Here are five stand-out skaters from this year’s competition:

Patrick Chan

The two-time world silver medalist accomplished a major first at Liberty – first quad landed in competition.

In the debut of his new short program to “Take Five,” Chan opened with an effortless quad toe.

He intended to add the element last season, but a series of injuries and illnesses prevented him from competing the quad in the Olympic season.

Now, with the jump planned in both programs, Chan could be difficult to beat. His ability to weave through a charismatic short program and re-choreographed free skate make a complex scoring system seem simple. Throw in a quad and Chan is in a class with few others.

Click Here to Read More

“I am proud to have finished fifth at my first Olympics in Vancouver and win the silver medal at worlds,” Chan said. He added, “I feel terrific and am looking forward to the upcoming season.” Chan’s season begins at the William G. Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, N.J., where he will train for a week and has agreed to guest teach a freestyle clinic to local skaters at the Morris County Park Commission, County of Morris facility.

Mennen Sports Arena’s Director of Skating, Jacqueline Kulik Palawasta, a former Canadian competitor, could not be more excited. “Patrick will inspire skaters, and this is a great kick-off to Mennen Sports Arena’s Summer Figure Skating Camp. His accomplishments at the Olympics are still fresh in everyone’s mind.” She added, “To have Patrick train here before his next competition will be rewarding for all of our skaters and to watch him will only validate what it takes to master this sport.”

Next up for Chan is the Liberty Figure Skating Competition in Aston, Pa., in July. He will unveil a new short and revamped long program with a view to ISU rule changes. Chan continues to train with Christy Krall in Colorado Springs and longtime choreographer Lori Nichol in Toronto.

With family from California to New Jersey and destinations in between, Chan is no stranger to the US. He enjoys training here and may remain for college. During his visit to N.J., Chan will interact with business professionals in New York City via his uncle, Tan Chan, who is the COO for a hi-tech company called Gabriels Technology Solutions. Chan hopes to gain insight into the world of business and determine his future course after skating.

While his focus is the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo, Chan plans to enroll in college in September 2011. “There are so many excellent universities in the US,” Chan said. He added, “Maybe I will go to Stanford and skate with Rachel Flatt!” University of Colorado near where he trains is in the mix along with a number of other top schools, including institutions in Canada.

The question on everyone’s mind is who will be at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Right now Chan is taking it one year at a time and leaving all options open. As for the immediate future, the Mennen Sports Arena is thrilled to have Chan visit. Jack Lipkin, a 30-year recreational skating veteran who trained at Mennen made the connection after meeting Chan at the 2009 Worlds in Los Angeles. Palawasta said, “Just to watch and enjoy the complexity involved with Patrick’s effortless movements will be breathtaking.”

Chan’s practices will be open to public spectators. For times and more information about Chan’s clinic or the Mennen Sports Arena Summer Figure Skating Camp, please call 973-326-7651 or visit www.morrisparks.net.

They’ll be answering some questions from fans, so feel free to post questions in advance by commenting on this blog post, or ask them live on Friday.

The event, hosted by the Ministry of Health Promotion and the Sport Alliance of Ontario, also recognized the outstanding contributions of coaches, officials, volunteers and corporate supporters to amateur sport in Ontario.

Award winners included:

• Male Athlete of the Year – Patrick Chan (Skating)
• Female Athlete of the Year – Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (Athletics)
• Male Athlete with a Disability of the Year – Stephen Jesso (Powerlifting)
• Female Athlete with a Disability of the Year – Erika Schmutz (Wheelchair Rugby)

The province provides support to high-performance athletes and coaches through the Quest for Gold program and committed $10 million towards the program in 2010-11.

Ontario’s athletes and coaches will have the opportunity to showcase their skills at home when the GTA hosts the Pan/Parapan American Games in summer 2015. The Games will create thousands of construction jobs, improve sports infrastructure, and bring 250,000 athletes, coaches and tourists to Ontario.

Click Here to Read More

figure skating

The 19-year-old skater from Toronto had to endure hardships all season -illness, his first major injury, being unprepared for the Skate Canada Grand Prix event last November, skating badly, and trying to play catch-up all Olympic season.

“From the beginning at Skate Canada, it got better and better,” Chan said. “I’ve been learning so much. I think this is by far the most challenging season. The season I’ll remember because I learned 80 per cent of what I have to learn in my competitive career in this one year. So next year will be a breeze.”

Click Here to Read More.

That’s the way Patrick Chan is – refreshingly honest.  And he discusses matters in such a way that he separates himself from most other elite athletes out there.

“It stinks,” he said of his fifth-place finish at the Vancouver Olympics.  “Then it settles in and you understand that you’re not the only star here Patrick.  You’re not the only one working his butt off to get somewhere.”

That qualifies as an epiphany.

Click Here to Read More.

The 19-year-old from Toronto finished second in the short program, scoring 87.80 points with a virtually flawless performance.

Click Here for More.

If there’s anyone out there like me who was obsessed with the Olympics, the red mittens, and all the hype that surrounded it than you’ll all feel like life has gotten way too monotonous since then.  Regular tv just doesn’t cut it anymore and even my favorite tv shows have lost its luster compared to the reality and the raw emotion that the Olympics had.  Another four years! Don’t steal my idea but I intend to search for hotel rooms and flight tickets sometime soon for SOCHI 2014!

Anyways, Patrick is off to Italy today.  Talked to him last night and he said that he’s been training really well and has been feeling really good about his skating.  Aside from some “silly” mistakes that he made in Vancouver he said that he has overcome them and is looking forward to Italy.  If your from Canada, don’t forget to watch him next Wednesday live on either CBCSports.ca or CBC Bold.  You can even judge the event yourself at Skatebuzz! Patrick will be taking his camera along so hopefully he will give us some behind the scenes stuff again like he did for Vancouver (which by the way there are more to come).

Just in case you haven’t seen the video yet, we have launched a new (yet small) contest for all of Patrick’s fans.  Basically, he has read several questions over the past month and promises to respond to them.  However please send in your questions through fan mail or commenting and try to be extremely unique!  The most interesting question will win a signed box of Cheerios! (and yes you will get the cereal inside it as well)

Side Note: Yesterday was St. Patty’s day and I received this awesome fan mail for Patrick.  Such a cute story that I thought I had to share it.

Yesterday, when our 5 yr old woke up I told him it was St. Patrick’s Day – that it was a “holiday” and we would wear green…he went along with it all. Later in the day he asked me when we were going to see Patrick Chan skate, confused I said I didn’t know. (Our kids both recently met Patrick at the Olympics) Throughout the day he would ask the question repeatedly. In the evening, we were shopping and he saw all the green gear for St. Patrick’s Day – he was so excited and wanted to buy some for “St. Patrick Chan Day”!! He was convinced that we were going to see Patrick skate and that we were to celebrate all day!! March 17th will be Patrick Chan day in our house!

Thanks Kristy for sharing your story! Anyways, stayed tuned for more updates and keep sending in your questions!

- Aivory

It’s not what the 25-year-old American figure skater said or did. Quite the opposite, in fact.

First, there is Lysacek’s gold – not the one around his neck in Vancouver, but the one he didn’t win four years ago at his rookie Games in Turin. If Lysacek could rebound after a fourth-place finish, 20-year-old Chan figures he could trade fifth for a podium in four years, too.

Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/chan-takes-inspiration-from-lysaceks-rise-to-gold/article1504085/

It just won’t be next week in Turin, Italy, at the 2010 world figure skating championships.

The three-time national champion, who finished fifth at the Olympic Games in Vancouver, told a conference call on Wednesday the big jump is on the to-do list.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskating/story/2010/03/17/spf-chan-worlds-quad.html#ixzz0iXVW3xhy