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[av_heading heading=’Filipino skater Martinez books return trip to Winter Olympics ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Monday, April 3, 2017
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Michael Martinez of the Philippines performs his routine during the men’s free skating event of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland. REUTERS
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MANILA – Filipino figure skater Michael Christian Martinez punched a ticket to the 2018 Winter Olympics following his impressive performance in the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday night at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.
The Muntinlupa City-native Martinez collected a total of 196.79 points to finish 24th overall in the free skate round to reach his second Winter Olympics stint to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The 20-year-old Martinez will be mounting a return to the Winter Games for the first time since making history as the first Filipino figure skating Olympian in the 2014 Sochi Games, where he finished 19th.
The Filipino skater finished last in the finals but still earned the final Olympic qualifying spot available for the men’s singles competition. Another 6 spots will be filled in the future qualifiers.
“I just want to qualify and compete again in the 2018 Olympics,” said Martinez. “And now that I have qualified to the Winter Olympics, our next preparation will be to win a medal.”
Martinez’s mom, Teresa, is also optimistic that the Filipino figure skater can win at least a bronze medal in next year’s Winter Olympics as he will start early with his preparations.
“For 2018, realistically he can get at least a bronze,” Teresa said. “He can do it. In 2015, our target was just to qualify in the medal round. He was able to do that and ended up 19th.
“Aside from financial support, Mike also needs emotional and moral support, which is very important,” added Teresa, who admitted having a hard time financing Martinez’s training in the previous Winter Olympics.
Martinez, a 2015 Asian Figure Skating champion, two-time Triglav Trophy champion and silver medalist at the 2014 Warsaw Cup, advanced to the final round of the World Championships after making the cut in the men’s short program on Thursday./PN
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