Michael Martinez. FILE PHOTO
THE LAST couple of years may have been a roller-coaster run for Michael Christian Martinez, but the Filipino skating star thinks he’s climbing his way up again.
Back for a brief break from his training in the United States, Martinez got a boost after improving his ranking in the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, where he placed 19th overall last March in Boston.
He finished 21st last year.
“I’m happy because at the start of the skating season, it was not as good as I thought,” said Martinez. “But by the end of the season, it was great.”
The 19-year-old Martinez, the first Southeast Asian figure skater to compete in the Olympics, has several international tournaments lined up in the next two years.
Aside from aiming to qualify for the Winter Olympics again in 2018, Martinez looks forward to the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, where skating will make its debut.
“My target is to be able to win the gold medal there and to help my fellow skater-athletes here to place there, too,” said Martinez. “For the next Olympics, I’m working hard to qualify again and to place at least in the top 10 or top five.”
For now, Martinez takes a month-long break where he’s also set to conduct training camps with SM Skating from June 15 to 17 at Mall of Asia Arena and June 30 to July 1 at SM Seaside City Cebu.
“My journey has been full of ups and downs,” he said. “After the Olympics, it was really good. It wasn’t after that, but now, I think I’m heading up again.”