Martinez confirms tough sked

There’s no backing down for Olympic figure skater Michael Martinez who despite suffering a recent ankle injury, confirmed yesterday his commitment to go through a grueling schedule that will culminate in his first appearance at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 19-31.

Martinez, 20, said he hurt his left ankle while training to master the quad loop jump before the figure skating season started last July. “My skates couldn’t handle any of my new quad jumps,” he said. “That’s why when I was training for my quad loop jump, which is one of the rarest quad jumps any skater can do, I got injured starting the season. I had to compete in Nice even with a newly injured ankle (last Oct. 19-23) so it affected my whole season. I was at the point where I wasn’t able to walk normally for three days then slowly, a week before the Nice competition, I started to come back.”

Although not fully recovered from the ankle injury, Martinez finished sixth of 20 at the Coupe Internationale de Nice in France but his score of 169.6 points was a far cry from his personal high of 220.36 registered at the Audi Cup of China in 2015.

Martinez pushed himself to compete at the Volvo Open in Riga, Latvia, last Nov. 9-13 and wound up fifth of 13 with a score of 189.34 points. He was fourth in the 2 minute and 40 second short program, an improvement from eighth in Nice. “I was able to practice a bit more for Riga than Nice and my ankle was a little better but not good enough because even with me practicing on the official ice times, I was twisting my ankles due to my skates,” he said. “I didn’t change to new skates since the Nice, Riga and Zagreb (Croatia) competitions were all close to each other and the required days for any skater to feel comfortable is at least a month of breaking in. So basically, I competed with bad skates because they couldn’t handle my jumps anymore.”

The ankle problem forced Martinez to withdraw from the free skate after performing in the short program at the Golden Spin of Zagreb last Dec. 7-10. He scored 61.27 points in the short program to rank 16th of 20 before backing out from the free skate.

Martinez said with his new Ukrainian coach Vyacheslav Zagorodnyuk, he’s more confident in trying out difficult maneuvers. “I’ve learned a lot of new things and going out of my comfort zone not like before when I would compete with easy elements to get a high score,” he said. “Now, coach Slava is challenging me so hard that I’m putting a lot of my hard elements. Even if I made mistakes at the start of the season, it’s OK because at least, I know what to do next and I can prepare for the important competitions this year.” Martinez said he’ll be wearing new skates in tackling the tough grind ahead.  His music will continue to be electric violinist Vanessa Mae’s “Emerald Tiger” in the short program and English tenor Russell Watson’s “Nella Fantasia” in free skate.

First in Martinez’s coming schedule is the Four Continents Championships in Gangneung, South Korea, on Feb. 14-17. The competition will be a test for organizers in preparing to host the 2008 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Next is the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, on Feb. 19-26. Then, Martinez’s will compete at the World Championships in Helsinki on March 29-April 2. It will be Martinez’ third appearance in the annual event after finishing 20th of 30 in 2015 and 19th of 30 last year. The top 24 finishers of the World Championships will advance to the 2018 Winter Olympics where 30 slots are available. The skaters to fill the six vacant slots will be determined in a qualifying event, traditionally the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany.

Martinez said his goal is to finish among the top 10 in Helsinki, a tall order considering his recent ankle issues. “I hope to qualify for the next Winter Olympics outright,” he said. “My target is to place at least 10th at the World Championships.  I plan to do two quads in my free skate and one in my short program.”

Martinez said his drop in the International Skating Union world rankings to No. 35 covering the cumulative scores of the last three seasons was due to competing in more challenging events. “I used to do small competitions which gave me high world ranking scores but now, I’m joining harder competitions and I do harder events than before,” he said. So far, Martinez’s season world ranking has taken a big hit because of his ankle problem, sliding from No. 23 to No. 93. His standing will improve dramatically if he performs at a high level in the Four Continents, Asian Winter Games, World Championships and finally, the SEA Games.

While Martinez is the only Southeast Asian ever to qualify for the Winter Olympics, a gold medal in the SEA Games isn’t a sure thing. Malaysia’s Julian Zhi Jie Yee, 19, has lately emerged as a threat to his throne. Yee took third place at the Asian Open Trophy in Manila last August and is No. 44 in the ISU season world rankings. Yee will be skating before his countrymen in Kuala Lumpur and is expected to bring out the best in Martinez in their personal duel.

Martinez said after the World Championships, he will fly to Manila for a brief stay. “I’ll go back to Los Angeles right away because I need to focus on my skating to get better and be ready for the upcoming season, especially for the Winter Olympics (on Feb. 9-25, 2018),” he said. Martinez is supported by the SM Group which signed him to a four-year P36 Million contract up to the 2018 Winter Olympics. He also receives a yearly allowance from San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang.