Michael Martinez back in US to train for skating Grand Prix

Michael Martinez. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Olympian Michael Christian Martinez is back in the US to train for the International Skating Union (IUS) Grand Prix of Figure Skating which will be held in Chicago on October 24 .

Yet, winning the Grand Prix is not the only concern Martinez has to face as he revealed on his social media accounts that he has stopped training for months now due to lack of financial support.

In his official Twitter account, Martinez tweeted on August 1 that he is in California to train for the ISU Grand Prix. In his official Facebook page, he called for the immediate release of pledged funding for him to continue his training.

Martinez has the distinction of being the only Filipino and Southeast Asian to compete in the Grand Prix.

The ISU Grand Prix is a series of international senior figure skating contests. Martinez will be competing in the first event of the 2014-2015 ISU Grand Prix called the 2014 Hilton HHonors Skate America. Medals will be given to the winners of men’s singles, ladies’ singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.

Also, skaters will accumulate points in each event and only the top six of each event will qualify to the Grand Prix final to be held in Barcelona, Spain in December.

Martinez will be competing against world and Olympic greats in figure skating such as Jeremy Abbott of the United States, Tatsuki Machida of Japan, Denis Ten of Kazakhstan, and Artur Gachinski of Russia.

Martinez currently ranks 27th in the world and made history during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics when he became the first Filipino figure skater who competed in the Winter Olympics.