Rising figure skating star Audrey Mikheila Martinez scoops up multiple golds in Manila tilt

MANILA, Philippines — There’s a new rising star in the world of Philippine figure skating, showing a lot of promise to follow the great path of Olympian Michael Martinez.

Ten-year-old Audrey Mikheila Martinez is now starting to catch more attention in the local figure skating circuit and just recently, she collected 13 gold medals in a recent competition she participated — Skate Manila Championships.

“This is only my second time competing in a tournament and I was quite surprised with the achievements I had. But I guess this is also a product of my training routine. I skate four times a week in between my studies, then stretching and exercises,” said Martinez, who was accompanied by her grandfather Danilo Martinez.

Danilo is the father of professional basketball player James Martinez.  

According to Martinez, they’re now preparing for the next level competition. She is now currently in the FS2 level and would now prepare for a higher level competition this coming November.

To prepare herself for the next event, Martinez wasted no time and started going back to training under coach Justine Mendoza, but on top of that, the young lad needs to study a 10-pager reviewer to equip herself for the bigger competition.

“I love ice skating because I thought it would be unique. It’s a different sport, unlike volleyball, added Martinez. “There’s this group, Golden Hyphen, and one of the members is also into figure skating. When I saw it, I thought it would be fun and interesting thing to do. It was really fun.”

Golden Hyphen is the hyphenated name of US figure skating gold medalist Lynn-Holly Johnson, who is also an actress, known for her role in the movie Ice Castles.

For the elder Martinez, he’s bound to support her granddaughter all the way and believes in Audrey’s potential to make it big in the figure skating industry.

“Lots of skills should be needed,” he said, referring to the next big event in November. “We have four months to prepare for the required skills. We want her to be part of a pool of players, who someday can become members of the national team and represented the country.”