Michael Martinez not giving up on Winter Games return

BARELY missed the cut to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics at the recently concluded World Figure Skating Championships in Finland, groundbreaking Filipino figure skater Michael Martinez is not yet giving up on his push for a return trip to the Games, eyeing the next qualifying tournament later this year.

Fresh from his stint in the Worlds in Helsinki, 20-year-old Martinez met members of the local media yesterday at the SM Skating Rink at Mall of Asia where he shared that he is slated to compete in the Nelbelhorn Trophy in Germany in September.

There he will skate and try to place the Philippines as part of the six final participating countries for figure skating in the Winter Games next year in South Korea.

In the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships, Mr. Martinez garnered a total score of 196.79 in the men’s singles category with individual scores of 69.32 in the short program and 127.37 in free skating.

It was good enough to advance to the finals where he landed 24th.

Mr. Martinez had been good to go to the Games with the result being one of the top 24 skaters but unfortunately for the Filipino, qualifying rules give more spots to countries with multiple performers.

“Competition in the Worlds was tough, it being a qualifier. I think I competed well but unfortunately the new rules prevented me from qualifying in the Winter Games,” Mr. Martinez said. —