Martinez falls short of Olympic bid

MANILA, Philippines - Michael Christian Martinez struggled to finish at 24th overall in the 2017 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland last Saturday and fell short of a spot in the Winter Olympics.

Martinez earned 127.47 points in the free skate final for a 196.79-point aggregate, finishing No. 24 in the culminating program that saw a record-breaking performance by champ Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan.

Hanyu reeled off quad loop, quad salchow, triple flip, quad salchow-triple toe, quad toe, triple axel-double toe, triple axel-half loop-triple salchow, triple lutz in his final routine to post a new world mark of 223.20.

The reigning Olympic titlist, Hanyu tallied 321.59 to regain the world crown he last won in 2014. His compatriot, Shoma Uno, who had a personal-best 214.45 in FS, took the silver with 319.31 overall, while Chinese Boyang Jin, who made a new career FS high of 204.94, netted the bronze with 303.58 total.

Martinez’ final standing wasn’t enough to earn the country one of 24 qualification spots to the 2018 Winter Games at stake in the tourney.

“He (Martinez) finished at the Top 24 of the worlds but with other countries earning multiple spots, the 24 spots were quickly filled,” the Philippine Skating Union (PHSU) said yesterday.

Japan and the US captured three Olympic berths each while China, Spain, Canada, Russia and Israel netted two apiece and Uzbekistan, Georgia, Latvia, Australia, Kazakhstan, France, Czech Republic, and Germany took one each.

Martinez, 20, will have one more crack at a second Winter Olympics stint when he competes again in September in the second qualifiers, the Nebelhorn Trophy, where six spots will be awarded for singles skating, according to PHSU.