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A Closer Look at Chan's Coaching Situation

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Patrick Chan's split with Christy Krall, the coach who has been credited with getting him to a consistent (and oftentimes glorious) quadruple jump, seems a big deal to me. Some publications have been looking into it.

The official word is that Krall resigned. Krall told the Canadian Press that she had gradually been moved out of the coaching role as choreography Kathy Johnson moved more into it. Here's what Krall said:

But Krall said her role had diminished while Chan's other coach Kathy Johnson, a modern dance teacher who studied dance at Juilliard but also works with skaters, had assumed a larger role.

"It's all good, it works, it's successful," Krall said. "But I was stepping out of the coaching role I was in and becoming an instructor, and I personally wanted to do more than that.

"Things were switching inside the dynamics of my partnership with Patrick."

Krall has coached Chan in Colorado since he split with Don Laws just weeks before his fifth-place finish at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Chan is going to continue working with Johnson in Colorado and will be making more trips to Toronto, his home. The article also notes that Chan had been dealing with a lack of motivation and frustration this season and even wanted to quit. (I am confused. It's not like he won the Olympics or something. OY).

Anyway. So now Chan is mainly with Johnson and I guess wants to continue to focus on the artistic side of the skating, and in that case, the ISU will have to raise the possible scoring totals for program components because he already gets such high marks in all the artistic areas as it is.

Examiner writes a love letter to the Johnson/Chan relationship. It doesn't actually interview anyone but gushes about the connection between Chan and Johnson. So lucky for Chan, the lovefest will continue.

Chan just recently came in second in the men's portion of the World Team Trophy.