Martinez at bottom half of leaderboard in Austria short program

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines' Michael Martinez found himself at the wrong end of the leaderboard after the men's short program in the Cup of Austria on Friday.

Martinez, the only Philippine bet in the tiff, ended up 25th in a field of 28 skaters with a score of 57.50.

The two-time Winter Olympian scored 26.00 for his Technical Elements Score and 32.50 for the Program Component Scores.

The 25-year-old had a point deducted from his score.

Japan's Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda leads the pack with 83.95.

Martinez will look to make up a few places in the free skate set Saturday.

The Filipino figure skater hopes to finish better than he did in his last ISU Challenger Series appearance.

He, along with Christopher Caluza, were at the tail-end of the competition field in the 2021 Finlandia Trophy last October.

Among 26 skaters, Martinez and Caluza ended up 24th and 25th place, respectively.