Martinez to perform in Germany

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino figure skater Michael Martinez will perform in exhibitions in four cities in Germany on Dec. 20-29, an indication of the growing global recognition of his ice skills. He was invited to headline skating shows at the Saturn Arena in Ingolstadt tomorrow, the Messe Halle in Chemnitz on Dec. 27, the Donau Arena in Regensburg on Dec. 28 and the Ellsportzentrum in Oberstdorf on Dec. 29 by director Jennifer Weiss of Spotlight Productions Sports and Entertainment of Wehrheim.

“Michael will be performing to two new music, one with a live band,” said the skater’s mother Teresa.   “It’s a paid performance which was approved by the Philippine Skating Union, a requirement to do the shows. We’ll leave Los Angeles for Germany on Dec. 16 and return on Dec. 30. We’ll be spending Christmas in Germany.”

Martinez, 19, has been busy training for the World Championships in Boston on March 28-April 3. He got off to a hot start, bagging the gold medal at the Triglav Trophy and Asian Open Trophy before placing ninth in the Finlandia Trophy, sixth at the Audi Cup of China, fourth at the Warsaw Cup and seventh at the Golden Spin of Zagreb last Dec. 2-5. Martinez plans to compete at the Four Continents Championships in Taiwan on Feb. 16-21 and the Coupe de Printemps in Luxembourg on March 11-13 as warm-ups for the World Championships. It’s still not certain if he will enter a competition in January or spend the month polishing his routine for Taiwan, Luxembourg and Boston.

In Zagreb, Martinez was seventh in the short program and eighth in freeskate to wind up seventh overall among 23 skaters with a total of 202.82 points. He was one of only seven skaters to compile at least 200 points. Martinez beat skaters from Canada, Germany, Croatia, Finland, France, Spain, US, Italy, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Ireland, Slovakia, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic. The Hong Kong entry Kwun Hung Leung was No. 21 in the standings.

Finishing ahead of Martinez were first placer Denis Ten of Kazakhstan, runner-up Adam Rippon of the US, Adan Pitkeev of Russia, Gordei Gorshov of Russia, Moris Kvitelashvili of Russia and Alexander Johnson of the US. Ten, 22, garnered 276.39 points. He has won the Four Continents Championships and took the bronze at the last Winter Olympics and World Championships. Ripoon, 26, was second at the Finlandia Trophy this year. Pitkeev, 17, was second at the World Juniors last year and fifth this year. Gorshov, 22, was second at the World Universiade in 2013 and fifth this year. Kvitelashvili, 20, was fifth at the World Universiade in 2013 and seventh this year. The Russian placed 12th at the Audi Cup of China where Martinez was sixth. Johnson, 25, collected 212.85 points and Martinez was a distant seventh despite a flawless performance without deductions.

“Michael doubled his two intended triple jumps in freeskate and that’s why his score was low (137.16 points for eighth place) although he didn’t fall,” said his mother. “He has to upgrade the degree of difficulty in his jumps to the quadruple level. We’re confident he’ll have the quads in the February competition in Taiwan. In Zagreb, his toughest execution was doing his triple axel in combination from a matrix entry. He’s the only skater who’s done that so far.”

Regarding Kvitelashvili’s improvement from the Audi Cup of China to the Golden Spin of Zagreb, Martinez’ mother said the Russian failed to land his quads in Beijing but executed with precision in Croatia. She lauded Ten for his gold medal showing. “At the early age of 11, Denis could already land his triple axel,” she noted. “Denis had a strong training foundation in Russia when he was young with an Olympic coach.”

No question, Martinez’ mother said her son has to land his quads in competition, now a necessary routine to level up and scale the ladder of the world rankings. He has two months to work on his routine before competing in Taiwan. “His quad jumps are not yet consistent,” said Martinez’ mother who is his constant traveling companion. “He’ll do quad jumps in Taiwan. He’s really very disappointed that he couldn’t include any quad jumps in his programs in Warsaw and Zagreb but his repetitive injuries have caused him to lessen the frequency of practicing quads. That’s why it’s taking time for him to perfect his quads.”

Martinez performed at the Warsaw Cup and Golden Spin of Zagreb without his coaches who were tied up because of commitments at the US sectional championships. In Warsaw, he fell once in both the short program and freeskate, dooming his hopes of a podium finish. Despite finishing fourth in Warsaw and seventh in Zagreb, Martinez piled up points for his International Skating Union ranking because he was within the top eight cut-off.

Martinez said he couldn’t be happier for Japan’s 21-year-old skater Yuzuru Hanyu who recently smashed the record for the highest combined points – 322 – in the short program and freeskate at the NHK Trophy in Nagano. Hanyu is the only skater ever to score at least 100 points in the short program, 200 in freeskate and 300 in the combined total.

“Yuzuru is a very talented skater and a nice person,” said Martinez. “He’s one of my favorite skaters. We exchange hellos whenever we see each other in competitions. We had photos together at the Sochi Winter Olympics and this year’s World Championships in Shanghai.”

Martinez’ mother said Hanyu had a clear head start in his skating career. “Yuzuru had a solid skating foundation,” she said. “He was the junior world champion in 2009-10 and the silver medalist at the Four Continents in 2010-11. In 2010, Michael was just a recreational skater in the Philippines while Yuzuru was already training for triple jumps.”