Phan was born on August 4, 2001, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,[1] and is ¾ Vietnamese and ¼ Chinese.[2] He lived in Outaouais and attended École Internationale du Mont-Bleu[3] before moving, in September 2012, to Saint-Leonard, where he attended École primaire Pie-XII.[4] He moved to Laval, Quebec in 2013.[5] He enrolled at École secondaire St-Gabriel.[3]
Career
Early years
Phan began learning to skate in 2006.[1][6] As a young child, he trained at CPA Asticou in Gatineau, Quebec.[4] In the 2012–2013 season, he was coached by Jocelyne Leduc, Nathalie Martin, and Sylvie Fullum in Saint-Leonard, Quebec.[4]
Competing in September 2016 at his first Junior Grand Prix (JGP) assignments, Phan placed sixth in Ostrava, Czech Republic, and fifth in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In December, he won the senior men's event, ahead of Bennet Toman, at the Skate Canada Challenge and qualified to compete on the same level at the 2017 Canadian National Championships in January. He finished 11th in his senior nationals debut.[9]
2017–2018 season
Phan began his season in August at the 2017 Junior Grand Prix in Brisbane, Australia; he placed second in the short program, seventh in the free skate, and fourth overall. In September, he won silver at his next JGP assignment, in Zagreb, Croatia, where he finished second to Alexei Krasnozhon of the United States. Competing as a senior domestically, Phan finished first, ahead of Nicolas Nadeau and Nam Nguyen, in December at the Skate Canada Challenge. The following month, he placed eighth in the short, fifth in the free, and sixth overall in the senior men's category at the 2018 Canadian Championships.
Phan placed fourteenth in the short program, third in the free skate, and fourth overall at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. He was awarded a small bronze medal for his free skate.[10]
In the off-season Phan landed his first quadruple Lutz.[11]
In August 2018, it was confirmed that Phan had begun training under coach Brian Orser at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club.[13] At his first JGP assignment in Lithuania he placed fifth in the short program, but had a very poor free skate, placing ninth overall.[14] Three weeks later in Slovenia, Phan won the bronze medal.[15]
At the 2019 Canadian Championships, Phan placed sixth in the short program after falling on his opening quadruple toe loop attempt, though he succeeded in executing his planned combination near the end of his program on his final jump.[16] In the free skate he was more successful, landing both of his planned quads, and placed fourth, to finish in fourth place overall, moving ahead of teammate Conrad Orzel. He was named alongside Stephen Gogolev to compete at the 2019 World Junior Championships.[17]
Competing at Junior Worlds, Phan set a new personal best in the short program, despite putting a hand down on his triple Axel.[18] He dropped to twelfth place after struggling in the free skate.[19]
Phan placed fourth at the 2020 Canadian Championships, and was assigned to compete at the 2020 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.[20] He placed eighth in the short program in Tallinn, his only error being a two-footed landing on his triple Axel.[21] Phan performed poorly in the free skate and was fifteenth in that segment, dropping to twelfth place overall.[22]
With the pandemic continuing to make it difficult to hold in-person events, Skate Canada organized the 2021 Skate Canada Challenge as a virtual competition, and subsequently cancelled the 2021 Canadian Championships.[24] Phan placed fourth at Challenge.[25]
2021–2022 season
Phan withdrew from the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, but placed sixteenth at the 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, and seventh at the 2022 Skate Canada Challenge to qualify to the national championships. At the 2022 Canadian Championships in Ottawa, Phan finished third in both segments but fourth overall, 0.54 points behind bronze medalist Wesley Chiu. Phan pronounced himself "really happy" with his free skate despite a Lutz fall and a few underrotations, particularly having overcome nervousness about skating last in that segment.[26] He was sent to compete at the 2022 Four Continents Championships, finishing ninth.[27]
On June 23, Skate Canada announced his retirement from the sport.[28]
