Figure-skater Michael Martinez’s ticket to the Winter Olympics will have to be put on hold in the meantime.
Martinez’s camp and Filipino sports officials are sorting through a rule that has apparently bumped him off the list of athletes qualified to join the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea next year.
Martinez competed in the world figure skating championship in Helsinki, Finland, in the hopes of landing a spot in the Olympics. The cutoff for qualifications stood at 24 in the men’s singles event, which was good news for Martinez, who finished 24th.
In the hours after Saturday’s event had concluded and the Philippine Skating Union (PSU) itself confirmed Martinez had qualified, a wrinkle in the sport’s international federation’s rulebook surfaced.
One interpretation has it that if a country has 2 athletes in the top 13, it can take a 3rd athlete to Pyeongchang.
If that’s the case, Japan, which finished 1-2, along with Canada (5th and 9th) ,the United States (6th and 7th) and Russia (8th and 11th), are all eligible to add to their respective rosters, dislodging Martinez from the final cut in the process.
As of posting time, ABS-CBN News has been touching base with Martinez’s camp, as well as the PSU. He said the International Skating Union (ISU) Congress will make the confirmation, but no timeline for that has been set.
Filipino officials are communicating with the ISU, the sport’s world-governing body, as well for clarification.
This story first appeared on ABS-CBN News Online and republished with permission.
