LOS ANGELES - Patrick Chan captured silver, but the judges still found him lacking.
And while he could half-heartedly laugh at his predicament Friday, if this was to happen next year at the Vancouver OIympics, the young Canadian skating star wouldn't be nearly so forgiving.
The 18-year-old from Toronto was runner-up in men's singles at the world figure skating championships Thursday, yet the evening didn't unfold without a bit of controversy. He still scored lower on components - what used to be known as presentation - than bronze medallist Brian Joubert of France.
Chan was stunned when that fact was pointed out to him Friday.
"No kidding?" he said. "That's bad, that's really disappointing. I was watching Brian last night, I looked over at Mike Slipchuk (Skate Canada's high performance director) and said, 'Are you serious? Are you kidding me? This is his program?' That's really unfortunate, I'm really disappointed and hopefully they discuss it."
It's like comparing Shaq and Kobe, and deciding Shaq is the better ball-handler.
Chan has grown up with the new judging system, implemented in 2004 after the skating scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, and prides himself on his wide array of refined skills, from his spins to his footwork to the execution of his jumps.
The 24-year-old Joubert, the 2007 world champion, on the other hand, is a huge jumper who's not exactly known for his artistic flare.
"I don't know who the boss is, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be upset about what happened," Chan said. "I think it's good that it's happening now and this didn't happen at the Olympics, I think that would be really bad. They'll be discussing it and hopefully spread the word to more judges."
American Evan Lysacek, who shares a choreographer with Chan - Canada's Lori Nichol - won the gold Thursday night with a flawless performance. Chan, skating to Rachmaninov, had one discernable error when he turned a triple loop into a double. Joubert's program was unremarkable, ending with a spectacular face plant on a triple Axel that nearly sent him into the boards.
"Like seriously, come on! It's so obvious," said Chan, who also scored lower than Joubert on components in the short program, prompting boos from the Staples Centre crowd. "If you put me or Evan's program against Brian, it's white and black. It's pretty obvious."
Chan's silver medal capped a meteoric rise this season for the skater who was ninth last year in his world championship debut where Canada's Jeffrey Buttle won gold. Chan, who pockets US$27,000 for his performance, became the second youngest Canadian male ever to win a world championship medal. The youngest was Don McPherson in 1963, who was less than two months younger than Chan.
Chan was too young, perhaps, to be handed the world title, some suggested. If that's the case, he's not sweating it.
"It might be again earning the stripes, for sure that plays a factor," Chan said on the puzzling judging. "Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe it's holding back for now, keeping the horse in the gate before the big race, which is the Olympic Games, which is great.
"I like to be the guy under being ready to go at any moment and when the moment comes, I can really take advantage of that moment."
Thursday night, Skate Canada officials, coaches, skaters who were done for the week and Chan's parents gathered at an L.A. restaurant to toast the young medallist, celebrating into the wee hours of the morning.
"Oh gosh yeah, everyone is so happy about it," Chan said. "I don't think I realize how great it is because it hasn't sunk in, and everyone is just so ecstatic and it's great. I feel like I'm in Jeff's spot last year even though I didn't win the gold, but it's a gold in my mind."
Less than a year out from the Vancouver Olympics, when the heat from the spotlight will be intense, Chan doesn't mind winning silver so much.
"If he wins worlds, that could be kind of weird," former Canadian star Kurt Browning said last week. "When I won for the first time, even tying up my skates felt different, I felt like I couldn't fall in a practice session with people watching me because world champions didn't do that.
"Then there's this bad luck omen which seems to follow Canadian men who are world champions before the Olympics."
Browning, Brian Orser and Elvis Stojko all won the world championships only to miss out on Olympic gold the following year. In fact, no male has won the world championships and Olympics in back-to-back years since American Scott Hamilton won Olympic gold in 1984 in Sarajevo.
"(Former Canadian dance star) David Pelletier called it the kiss of death, he said you don't want to win worlds before the Olympics," Chan said. "I think it's a good thing for me, this is great, I like the spot I'm in. Evan deserved (the gold) and he's the person I think worked the hardest for it."
The Vancouver Olympics could see the return of Russia's Evgeni Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist who is considering coming out of retirement.
When asked his thoughts of his pending return, Chan said, "Good luck. "Good luck. It's hard. A lot of people have tried.
"It would be exciting. I'd love to compete against him It would be really interesting," added Chan.
Slipchuk said it would be very interesting indeed, considering the changes in the rules.
"A lot has changed between 2006 and 2009. A lot of rules are so different," said Slipchuk.
Chan flies home to Toronto on Monday and his studies at Etienne Brule, where it's back to reality.
"That's the greatest thing about my school, when I go back it's like, 'Patrick don't feel like you're a superstar, because you're not.' At school everyone treats me like crap," he said laughing. "Not crap, but like a normal person which is great."
He'll take a couple of weeks off and then get back on the ice to begin building his programs for the Olympic season. And yes, he plans to add a quad to his program. Earlier this week, Chan called out Joubert for his criticism of skaters who don't attempt the four-revolution jumps. Neither Chan nor Lysacek did a quad Thursday.
"If you don't have a quad in, it will guarantee a close match. If you put a quad in, you can blow away the competition only if you deliver the rest of the program, which unfortunately Brian didn't," Chan said. "I bet if Brian had a better program, and better spins and worked on his spins better, and had that quad he would have definitely taken it home with a big lead. You don't need the quad."
But. . .
"If I don't have the quad next year and I don't put it out, people will be like 'All right Patrick, it's time to get going, you have to put the quad in because you need something new."
Stay tuned.
