Filipino figure skaters Christopher Caluza and two-time Olympian Michael Martinez put up a fight but remained at the bottom half of the 2021 Finlandia Trophy on Friday, Oct. 8 in at the Espoo Metro Arena in Finland.
Martinez, who just came back from competition since skating in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, landed at 24th place with a score of 156.78, while Caluza followed suit at 25th with 156.24 out of the 26 skaters overall.
The 24-year-old Martinez capitalized on his triple salchow and triple loop executions but had repetitions on his triple axel attempt and also under-rotated on his triple flips while taking off at the wrong edge, placing 24th in the free skating with 101.16 points.
Caluza, 31, for his part, found himself at rock bottom after sustaining a -1 deduction for his fall and under-rotating his triple lutz and triple loops combination as well as his triple salchow. He garnered 96.5 points in the free skate program.
READ: Caluza, Martinez slide to bottom half in short program of Finland tilt
Despite the results, the Philippine Skating Union (PHSU) lauded Martinez and Caluza for representing the Philippines and inspiring the future generations of figure skaters in the country.
American sensation Jason Brown ruled the Finlandia Trophy after settling for fifth in the free skating event Friday, Oct. 8 and coming up second in the short program Thursday, Oct. 7 for a total score of 262.52.
Russians skaters Mikhail Kolyada and Dmitri Aliev ranked second and third with 256.98 and 249.25 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Sofia Frank is set to compete in the women's short program Saturday night, Oct. 9 and the free skating event the next day, Oct. 10.