Patrick Chan Loses Coach of Four Years

Chan’s coach Kathy Johnson has announced she’s left him; he is expected to speak next week.

More from Culturess

• 8 Hanukkah books to help you celebrate the festival of lights
• Could Taylor Swift top the 2024 Fandoms of the Year list, too?
• Oppenheimer producer wanted Barbie release date moved
• Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends gets Season 3 premiere date
• Billie Eilish speaks out after she claims ‘Variety’ outed her at a red carpet event

A late-summer bombshell dropped Monday from Figure skating coach Kathy Johnson. She announced that after four years, she will no longer going to coach Canadian three-time world champion, Olympic team and men’s silver medalist Patrick Chan. “I have made the heartfelt and difficult decision to resign as Patrick Chan’s coach,” she said to Icenetwork.  “On Monday, August 15, I informed Skate Canada of my decision to end my coaching role with Patrick.  I am proud of the success we have had over the last four years and wish him all the best.”

Chan himself has yet to make any comment. A Skate Canada official has since said that Chan will talk to the media on August 31, when all of Canada’s top skaters will gather in Toronto for Skate Canada’s annual High Performance Camp. The official also said Chan would “share his plans for the upcoming season.” At last report, Chan was training in Canton, Michigan, apparently with Charlie White (the 2014 Olympic Ice dancing champion) coaching him. His previous training base with Johnson had been in Detroit. Earlier this summer he had talked about settling in Vancouver. He has, in Vancouver, worked with Joanne McLeod, who is the city’s highest-profile skating coach.

Kathy Johnson was controversial as Chan’s head coach from the start, mostly because she wasn’t a skating coach. She had already been a part of his coaching team when he started training in Colorado Springs after the 2010 Olympics, but she specialized in movement and balance. He announced her as his coach after his previous one, Christy Krall, left him following 2012 Worlds. Johnson is also the third straight coach to leave him. Krall’s predecessor Don Laws did too, and noted he wasn’t an easy student. During the 2012-2013 season he also worked with skating coach Eddie Shipstead, but he left him behind when he and Johnson relocated to Detroit.

Patrick Chan (L) of Canada, and his coach Kathy Johnson (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Charlie White has never been a full-time coach. He’d be no odder a choice than Johnson, but with Chan having only been coachless for a week, it seems more likely he’s simply stepping in for the moment. It is not impossible Chan may try to go without a coach at all, at least for a time. His skating technique and expression is certainly good enough to need no coaching. Whether training day to day without any guidance is a good idea, however, is difficult to tell. If he follows through on his plans to relocate to Vancouver, he may train further under McLeod. Her skaters, however, are infamous for struggling with skating technique. Chan’s is among the best in the world, however, and might be hard for her to damage. He may even work with her part time, as he feels the need, either as a new arrangement or as a temporary one.

Since his return to competition after taking the 2014-2015 season off, Chan has frustratingly combined skating more beautiful than ever with competitive programs riddled with falls and mistakes. One would like to think the right coach could fix that. Whether Chan will find that coach in the aftermath of this, however, is anyone’s guess. As is whether he will do so by August 31. Two weeks isn’t a long time to do that, but with the season rapidly coming up, he needs to have some sort of plan in place, and soon.