Michael Martinez finishes 23rd in Austria tiff

MANILA, Philippines — Michael Martinez finished in 23rd place at the ISU Challenger Series Cup of Austria after the men's free skate on Saturday.

Only his second tournament after his years-long hiatus after the 2018 Winter Games, Martinez ended up at the wrong side of the leaderboard in the field of 27 skaters.

Martinez, who entered Saturday at 25th, moved up two places with a score of 108.97 in the free skate.

He scored 50.77 in the technical elements score while garnering 59.20 for the program component.

Like in the short program, Martinez absorbed a 1.00 deduction from his total score.

He ended up with a total of 166.47 to end up with his final ranking.

Georgia's Nika Egadze finished on top of the competition despite coming into to the free skate at 12th place.

He finished with a total of 227.57.

Japan's Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda, and USA's Ilia Malinin took second and third place, respectively.