Figure skater Patrick Chan is pleased, and relieved, to finally get an Olympic medal.
Chan was part of Canada’s silver medal-winning figure skating team, which finished behind Russia on Sunday.
“It’s cool to finally have a medal in your hand and say that it’s your own,” he said in a press conference Monday.
“I didn’t have that chance in Vancouver.”
READ MORE: Canada wins silver in team figure skating competition
Chan, who finished third in his skate in the team event, is a three-time world figure skating champion. But in Vancouver he was unable to secure an Olympic medal – something he has commented on many times since.
Finally winning a medal makes a big difference for Chan’s outlook going into the men’s single competition Thursday.
“It’s relieved, for some reason, a lot of pressure off myself, pressure that I’ve put on myself,” he said. “After getting the silver medal it’s really really a lot of pressure off me. So I’m feeling a lot more lighthearted going into the first short program for the individual event.”
The men’s short program begins Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. Eastern time (7 a.m. Pacific).
WATCH: Canada’s Olympic figure skating team congratulated in House of Commons Monday
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