COLORADO SPRINGS — In figure skating, the Four Continents Championships always gets crushed between nationals and worlds. Yet the few people who went to the World Arena on Thursday night saw what could be one of the biggest rivalries in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
And one is now a Colorado Springs skater.
Many consider Canada’s Pat Chan, who has trained here for two years, and Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi as the top two male skaters alive. They’ve won the last two world championships, with Takahashi adding an Olympic bronze medal, and the duo going 1-2 in this year’s Grand Prix Final.
Want a preview for Sochi? Tonight’s 7 p.m. long program could be it.
“It’s no glamour, no fistfights,” said Chan, who fell on his opening quad but still led with 87.95 points after the short program. “We get along great. I’ve been to Japan a couple of times to do shows, and I was just there in December to do their gala for their national championship.
“I saw all the Japanese skaters. We got along great. We always have great chats.”
Takahashi, 25, also fell on his opening quad and is in third place with 82.59 points. Japan’s Tatsuki Machida (83.44) is second.
With Russia’s 29-year-old Evgeni Plushenko coming out of retirement to win last month’s European Championships, Takahashi may be challenged for the No. 2 spot. But there’s no question who’s No. 1.
Chan, 21, opened the sport’s eyes last month with world-record scores of 93.02 in the short and 280.98 overall in winning his fifth straight Canadian title.
Much of the world countered with a charge of score inflation. What’s definitely true is Chan started hitting his stride after moving to Colorado Springs. However, home ice didn’t help him Thursday.
“You’d think I’d have the advantage when I’m here, but I actually feel like I’m at a foreign place,” Chan said. “Sometimes you get a chance to (train) in this rink, but they don’t play with the temperature of the ice. They don’t have to take all the labels off the ice and put new ice on it.
“That changes a lot of things. The temperature, I could feel it. It was a lot different.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, or jhenderson@denverpost.com
