Make or break for Martinez
Olympic figure skater Michael Martinez faces an uphill climb in reversing his ice fortunes which took a severe dip last year as his season world ranking fell from No. 23 to No. 93 but could turn things around if he performs at a high level in three coming competitions starting with the eighth Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, on Feb. 19-26.
Martinez, 20, is now trained by Ukrainian coach Slava Zahorodnyuk who claimed the bronze at the 199495 World Championships. Martinez’ mother Teresa used to manage his schedule and was his constant companion since they moved to Los Angeles two years ago but has relocated back to Muntinlupa. His previous coaches included Peter Kongkasem, Viktor Kudriavtsev and Ilia Kulik.
After the Asian Winter Games, Martinez will compete at the World Championships in Helsinki on March 29- April 2. It will be his third appearance in the annual event. In 2015, Martinez finished 21st of 30, compiling 192.38 points from 67.03 in the short program and 125.35 in free skate. Last year, he improved to 19th of 30, raising his total to 204.1 points from 66.98 in the short program and 137.12 in free skate.
Martinez participated in seven competitions last season and his International Skating Union (ISU) world standing soared to No. 23 before settling at No. 29. In his career, he has won five major championships, including back-to-back Triglav Trophy titles in Slovenia.
But Martinez has slowed down this season. At the Coupe Internationale de Nice in France last Oct. 19-23, he was sixth of 20 and scored 169.6 points – a far cry from his personal high of 220.36 registered at the Audi Cup of China in 2015. The winner was France’s Chafik Besseghier, 27, with 228.2 points. Then, at the Volvo Open in Riga, Latvia, last Nov. 9-13, Martinez was fifth of 13 and his score of 189.34 points was way below Russia’s 18-year-old winner Alexander Samarin’s 231.43.
In his most recent performance at the Golden Spin of Zagreb, Croatia, last Dec. 7-10, Martinez turned in a short program score of 61.27 to rank 16th of 20. The highest total of 82.35 was submitted by Israel’s Daniel Samohin and eight skaters tallied at least 70, leaving Martinez far behind. Before the free skate, Martinez withdrew with an ankle injury. He hurt his left ankle during practice. Two others also backed out after the short program.
A skating expert said Martinez wouldn’t have made an impact in free skate in Zagreb. “It would’ve been difficult to survive the free skate with eight jumps in four minutes and strong competition,” the expert said. Martinez’ injury, however, couldn’t be serious as during the holidays, he performed at a Christmas ice show and did mountain hiking in San Diego.
Aside from the Asian Winter Games and the World Championships, Martinez is also scheduled to compete at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 19-31. He’s the only Southeast Asian ever to qualify for the Winter Olympics but it won’t be a skate in the park at the SEA Games with Malaysia’s Julian Zhi Jie Yee gaining ground as a solid contender.
Yee, 19, took third place at the Asian Open Trophy in Manila last August. The winner was Japan’s Keiji Tanaka with a score of 212.29 points. There were 12 competitors in the men’s division where Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Chinese- Taipei, Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia and India were represented. Martinez, the defending champion, did not participate in the event which was held at the SM Skating Rink. In this season’s world rankings, Yee is No. 44 and 19 Asians are ahead of Martinez in the honor roll.
In the ISU world standings that take into account the cumulative scores of the last three seasons, Martinez is No. 35 with nine Asians ranked higher. Five of the nine Asians are from Japan and two from China with one each from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. No Southeast Asian is ranked higher than Martinez.
Martinez’ big test will come at the World Championships where the top 24 finishers advance to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. There will be 30 skaters in Pyeongchang, 24 coming from the World Championships and six from a qualifying event, traditionally the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany.
Martinez has set his sights on the next Winter Olympics after an impressive debut in Sochi in 2014 when he wound up 19th of 30 with a total of 184.25 points, 64.81 from the short program and 119.44 from free skate. Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu clinched the gold with 280.09 points while Canada’s Patrick Chan took the silver with 275.62 and Kazakhstan’s Denis Ten the bronze with 255.1. Martinez’ advance to Pyeongchang will depend on his performance at the World Championships in Helsinki.