Patrick Chan

Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater.

Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan was born December 31, 1990, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

He is the only child of Lewis Chan, a lawyer, and Karen, both immigrants from Hong Kong.

Arriving at the age of four, Lewis grew up in Montreal, Quebec, and pursued table tennis, golf and weight–lifting.

Karen, who won both singles and doubles tennis championships in her native city, moved to Canada in her 20s in order to continue her studies.

His Chinese name is Chan Wai–Kuan.

At the age of five, Chan showed talent in downhill skiing, but focused on other sports after his family moved to Toronto.

He has an enduring interest in many sports, including taekwondo, tennis, golf and mountain climbing.

Chan is fluent in English, French, and Cantonese.

His parents wanted him to be multilingual, so at home his father spoke French to him, his mother spoke Cantonese, and their son learned English from his daily life in Ontario.

Patrick Chan started skating in 1996.

He originally wanted to learn to skate in order to play hockey, but soon became interested in figure skating.

His coach, Osborne Colson, made him spend 30 minutes a day on basic stroking, edge work, cross–cutting and balance drills.

Chan said, "I tell people I owe the flow in my knees and the flow I generate from my edges to Mr. Colson. He knew he had to pull everything apart and start from the ground up on the basics of skating."

In 2001, aged 10, Chan won the bronze medal at the Canadian Junior National Championships at the juvenile level, the lowest qualifying level in the Canadian figure skating competition structure.

He won the pre–novice national title in 2003, the novice title in 2004, and the junior title in 2005.

His gold at the junior level of the 2005 Canadian Championships earned him a place at the 2005 World Junior Championships, where he placed seventh.

At the age of 14, he was the youngest skater at the event.

In January 2008, the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto (Youth Chapter) conferred Chan with the 2007 Chinese Canadian Youth of the Year award.

In May 2008, Chan was named Asian of the Year in arts and sports by Asia Network magazine.

Chan graduated from École secondaire Étienne–Brûlé, a French–language school in North York, Toronto, in 2009, prolonging his high school education by an extra year because of his skating.

After Chan became national champion, the school created an annual sporting award in his honour.

In January 2009, the Globe and Mail named Chan as one of the most prominent sports personalities in their annual Power List in Canadian sports.

On April 27, 2011, Chan set a new world record of 93.02 points for the short program.

On April 28, 2011, Chan then set a new world record for his free skating, receiving an overall score of 280.98.

In recognition, he was named the recipient of the Lou Marsh Award as Canada's top athlete.

Chan has repeatedly set the world records in figure skating under the ISU Judging System, being the world record holder for many years.

He is one of the few figure skaters in the world to break the 100-point barrier in the short program, and is the third man in the world to break the 200-point barrier in the free program.

During his 15–year competing career, he has won more than 30 titles and medals of ISU competitions, including three Olympic medals.

Chan tried to enroll in college a couple of times: first at Colorado College to study international economics in September 2011 and second at the University of Toronto to study social sciences in the fall of 2014.

Chan has won numerous off–ice awards for his accomplishments.

He is a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the men's and team events, a three–time World champion (2011, 2012, 2013), a two–time Grand Prix Final champion (2010 and 2011), a three–time Four Continents champion (2009, 2012, 2016), and a ten–time Canadian national champion (2008–2014, 2016–2018).

He is known for his skating style which is highly appreciated for artistry and elegance.

Patrick Chan is a recognized master of figure skating who has made a great contribution to this sport.

Becoming a leader in his form and constantly improving from season to season, he has contributed greatly to the emergence of skaters who tried to keep balance, saturating their programs with both complex elements and components.

He possesses a unique style of skating by using the edges of the blades, thereby achieving excellent skating skills.

He announced the end of his career on April 16, 2018.

Chan is considered by many to be one of the greatest Canadian male figure skaters of all time.

In 2020, Chan wed Canadian former pair skater Elizabeth Putnam.

In September 2021, they welcomed a son.