Figure skating champ Patrick Chan not concerned with coaching split

TOKYO (AP) -- Two-time world figure skating champion Patrick Chan says the resignation of coach Christy Krall will allow him to put more focus on the artistic side of his sport.

Krall resigned two weeks after the Canadian won his second straight world title in Nice, France, beating Japanese skaters Daisuke Takahashi and Yuzuru Hanyu.

"As with any athlete, we have to go through an evolution, we have to look at other places that need to be improved," Chan said Friday at the World Team Trophy.

Chan will continue to work with another member of his coaching team, Kathy Johnson.

"As for my program, it's not all about the technical," Chan said. "It has to be an integration of the jumps with the transitions, those two elements are not separate, they are one element and we have to learn to weave the two together.

"Kathy has the ability to do that and it's a smooth transition as I have already been working with her."

Krall told the Canadian Press that her role had diminished with Chan, while Johnson, a modern dance teacher who works with other skaters, had taken on a greater role.

Chan credited Krall with helping him master the quadruple jump, a key to his two world championships.

"It was a great, great time with Christy," Chan said. "She taught me the quad, I would have never had the technical abilities that I have now without her as a coach."

He finished second behind Takahashi in the men's short program on Thursday at the World Team Trophy. The men's free skate is Friday.