Chan, Lysacek, Kozuka are 1-2-3 at Four Continents figure skating

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Vancouver, Canada -- Canada’s Patrick Chan wasn’t as mesmerizing in his free skate Saturday as he had been in his short program, but his trademark triple axel and superb skating skills carried him to victory at the Four Continents figure skating championships, the test event for the Vancouver Olympics.

Chan, adored by the hometown crowd at the Pacific Coliseum, touched his hand to the ice once and wasn’t quite as dazzling as he had been on Thursday but still won with 249.19 points. Evan Lysacek (pictured at right), determined to obliterate the memory of his flat performance at the U.S. championships, landed his first quadruple jump of the season -- a quadruple toe loop -- to finish a strong second with a season-best 237.15 points.

Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who spent the summer of 2006 training in El Segundo with Lysacek’s coach, Frank Carroll, placed third despite falling on a quadruple toe loop attempt.

All three skaters will compete again at the world championships next month in Los Angeles.

The two other U.S. skaters had error-filled programs. U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott, fourth after the short program, slipped to fifth. Brandon Mroz, who trains with Abbott in Colorado Springs, dropped from fifth to eighth.

Chan got strong marks Saturday for his program components, which include skating skills, transitions, choreography and performance. That balanced out his disappointment over a performance that was less than perfect technically.

‘I want to be amazing both with my jumps and good skating skills,’ he said. ‘I can’t imagine how good this would be points-wise if I did everything.’

Lysacek, third at the U.S. championships, acknowledged that he wanted to avenge that loss to Abbott and Mroz.

‘I was really prepared for nationals and it didn’t go well and I definitely didn’t want to leave it at that,’ he said. ‘So that’s why I thought it was important to come here.

‘And not to be rude but I wanted to beat those other guys that were ahead of me at nationals because I kind of wanted to prove that the old guys aren’t going out.’

More later at latimes.com/sports

-- Helene Elliott