Michael Martinez makes top 20 in World Championships

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Michael Martinez participated in the 2016 ISU World Figure Skating Championships that was held in Boston a couple of weeks ago, finishing in the top 20.

The lone Pinoy Winter Olympian performed to the music of Sergei Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," while conducting triple axels and the signature biellmann spin during the free skate routine. It netted him a score of 137.12. Combined with his short program score of 66.98 nets him a 204.1, which pegs him in 19th overall and two spots better than last year's finish of 21st.

Javier Fernandez of Spain successfully defended his title, beating world number 1 Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, 314.93 to 295.17. Jin Boyang of China was in third with 270.99.

Michael's mother Teresa explains that he religiously trains to build his array of technical moves, but carefully plots his strategy to gain maximum points for better standing. She adds, "Michael did not take the risk of executing his practiced quad jumps in fear of inconsistency and eventual deduction, should he fall. We are now training with international coach Igor Samohin to congeal his set of skills and hopefully break through the top 10 in the next competition. As an elite skater, he’ll always have the pain—chest, shoulder, hip, ankle, knee, back -- due to constantly falling on hard ice. If you’re not a tough skater, it will make you think twice about the sport. But Michael is in it to win it. He’s glad to see his improvement in the rink, but looks forward to winning the gold in the long run."

Michael is currently ranked 27th overall with 1067.

One can continue to track his development on SM Skating (www.smskating.com / Facebook.com/smiceskating), as he prepares for the upcoming season in July and the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea.

Pinoy skaters make waves on the overseas rinks

Pinay skaters set to participate in the Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge in Hong Kong on October 5-7

21 Pinay figure skaters represented the Philippines in the just-concluded Hong Kong leg of the Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge (October 5-7). These ladies, who are between 8-17 y/o, will be going up against their counterparts from China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Chinese-Taipei, Thailand, and the hosts in various competitive divisions, including Elite Junior, Basic Junior, Basic Novice, and Basic Juvenile.

These young athletes (who are named below, along with their coaches) train regularly at the SM Skating rinks in the SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, and SM Southmall.


1) Bianca Vinarao
2) Julienne Ang
3) Emee Dy
4) Mikayla Fabian
5) Ysabelle Abis
6) Charmaine Skye Chua
7) Alexa Gonzaga
8) Kara Frances Guzman
9) Aliya Isidoro
10) Dianne Gabriel Panlilio
11) Aikon Shibata
12) Aleckxis Chuidian
13) Sofia Nagrampa
14) Elaine Solomon
15) Aicel Johanna Tecson
16) Felicity Eco
17) Veronica Claire Eid
18) Ann Cathryn Lagemann
19) Kate Venturina Orrock
20) Ryza Takahashi
21) Amanda Hernandez

COACHES:

1) Abraham Domdom
2) Noni Nerida
3) Ronan Capili
4) Jerico Lim
5) Clarisse Roman
6) Al Marinas


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Michael Martinez with some of the Pinoy skaters

In addition to the ladies above, four skaters, including the lone Pinoy Winter Olympian Michael Martinez, participated in the ISU Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy in Bangkok a few months ago (August 5-8).

Martinez defeated eight other skaters from Japan, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Australia, and India for the Senior Men's nod, while Sofia Guidote finished fourth in Basic Novice B Girls division.

Also participating are Diane Panlilio, who finished 19th of 23 in Basic Novice A Girls division, and Jules Alpe, who finished 9th of 11 in the Junior Men division.