MANILA, Philippines – Filipino skater Michael Martinez delivered a graceful, yet strong performance in the medal event of the men's figure skating in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia on Friday.
Martinez, who made Olympic history for the Philippines and Southeast Asia by competing in Sochi, garnered a score of 119.44 in the free program.
He has a total score of 184.25 points after the short and free programs.
He was ranked among the top 3 as of posting time, with veteran skaters from Europe and North America yet to take to the ice.
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| Michael Christian Martinez of the Philippines competes during the figure skating men's free skating program at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. |
Martinez who performed to the tune of Ernesto Lecuona's Malaguena, was the third performer among the 24 in the free program event.
He finished 19th a field of 30 during the preliminaries on Thursday.
This enabled him to march to the free program, which is the medal round of the men’s figure skating event.
The 17-year-old is the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to qualify in the Winter Olympics men’s figure skating.
Maria Calaguas, who is part of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) delegation to Sochi, said they were hoping Martinez gets to rank at least 10th or 12th in the medal round.
“If he can get a good score… [then] at least he can make it to the 10th,” said Calaguas. “If even higher, then that would be better of course.”
