A lot of history was made in the Men's Figure Skating Competition in the Sochi Winter Olympics. The record for highest score in the short program was broken, when Yuzuru Hanyu scored a 101.45 on Thursday. This also marks the first time that a short program score exceeded the 100-point mark. Hanyu also pipped favorite Patrick Chan to become the first Japanese man to win Olympic gold in figure skating.
Of course, the history that mattered most to the Philippines was the fact that Michael Christian Martinez was competing. Michael is the first Filipino - and in fact the first South East Asian - who participated in men's figure skating at the Winter Olympics. The fact that Michael comes from a country that doesn't have snow makes his achievement even more significant. It's reminiscent of Cool Runnings, the 1993 film about the Jamaican bobsled team.
Michael learned how to skate in SM Southmall. As his talent grew and his skill developed exponentially, he and his family took figure skating seriously and he started training in the US. His solid results in international competition allowed him to qualify for the 2014 Olympics. That in itself was already a huge achievement but he took it a step further. He scored a personal best of 64.81 in the short program, putting him in 19th place among 30 skaters. This was very important because the top 24 would proceed to the medal round.
Michael eventually scored a 119.44 which, added to his short program, gave him a total of 184.25 points. He ended up in a very respectable 19th place. You could argue that this means that at this point in time, he is the 19th best male figure skater in the world. When you think of if this way, it is truly impressive! At only 17 years of age - he was the youngest contender in men's figure skating - one would think he has a shot at making a return trip to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018.
Way to go, Michael!
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