MANILA, Philippines - Michael Martinez failed to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics after finishing 24th of 36 at the World Championships in men’s figure skating at the Hartwell Arena in Helsinki last weekend and will now try to sneak in through the back door with six slots left on the line at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Obersdorf, Germany, on Sept. 27-30.
Martinez, who is in Manila for a brief respite, said he’s confident of qualifying at the Nebelhorn. “Yes, for sure, I will qualify since I already have two quad jumps and by that time, I’ll be ready with my routine for the competition,” he said. Martinez arrived here Tuesday night and will be in town for a week before resuming his training in Los Angeles.
The World Championships were the first step to qualify skaters for the Winter Olympics set in PyeongChang, South Korea, on Feb. 9-25 next year. The tournament determined country quota slots based on the results. For countries with more than one entry in Helsinki, the top two placements must add up to 13 or less points for three spots and 28 or less for two spots. Japan had three entries and two skaters finished 1-2 in the standings, earning three points for three quota tickets in PyeongChang. The US also clinched three slots with 13 points from No. 6 Nathan Chen and No. 7 Jason Brown.
Martinez made the cut-off for the freeskate by placing No. 24 after the short program. Only 24 advanced, leaving 12 out of contention, including world No. 35 Matteo Rizzo of Italy and No. 38 Ivan Pavlov of Ukraine. But Martinez couldn’t move up the ladder, winding up No. 24 with a total of 196.79 points. He was the only skater to score less than 200 points in the top 24.
Aside from Japan and the US, three other countries gained multiple entries for the Olympics. Clinching two spots were China, Israel, Canada, Russia and Spain. With 16 quota slots taken, the next top finishers earned the remaining eight tickets which went to Uzbekistan, Georgia, Latvia, Australia, Kazakhstan, France, Czech Republic and Germany. The countries in the top 24 that missed the cut-off were Belgium, Malaysia, Sweden and the Philippines.
The Winter Olympics will welcome 30 skaters in PyeongChang. The Nebelhorn Trophy is the second qualifying window and will elevate six skaters from different countries. Expected to crowd Martinez in the battle to advance are Belgium’s Jorik Hendrickx, Malaysia’s Julian Zhi Jie Yee and Sweden’s Alexander Majorov who all finished ahead of the Filipino in Helsinki. Skaters from Ukraine, South Korea, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, United Kingdom, Chinese-Taipei, Finland, Croatia, Armenia and Azerbaijan also competed in Helsinki but failed to advance to the freeskate.
Martinez has performed only once at the Nebelhorn, finishing seventh in 2013-14. His rival Zhi has appeared twice at the Nebelhorn, landing ninth in 2015-16 and fourth in 2016-17. Martinez, 20, and Zhi, 19, are the top contenders for the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 19-31. This season, Zhi is outranking Martinez in the world standings, No. 43 to No. 65. But in the International Skating Union world ladder taking into consideration results over the last three seasons, Martinez is ranked No. 39 and Zhi No. 42.
There was some confusion as to whether Martinez qualified for the Olympics after finishing 24th because the Helsinki competition determined 24 slots. It was initially reported in media that he had qualified. But a clarification was later made to explain that seven countries earned multiple qualifying slots, leaving the last four finishers of the top 24 out of the Olympic circle at least for the meantime.
Martinez’ showing in Helsinki was a drop from his result at the World Championships last year when he scored 204.1 points and finished No. 19. His best total was 220.36 compiled at the Audi Cup of China in 2015. Martinez had 69.32 points in the short program and 127.47 in the freeskate to settle for No. 24 last weekend. Zhi scored 69.74 points in the short program and 144.25 in the freeskate. Zhi’s score in the freeskate was even higher than Kazakhstan’s Denis Ten who wound up No. 16.