
Filipino-Swiss figure skater Alisson Perticheto has pulled out of the 2021 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Sweden this week due to an injury.
"I’m very sad to not participate to Worlds this week due to some bad shin splints," Perticheto told the Manila Bulletin in an online exchange Monday, March 22.
"I took the decision to take a step back now so it doesn’t get any worse and to prevent to become a fracture. It will probably take a few weeks to heal completely."
The 23-year-old Filipino-Swiss was the lone representative from the Philippines and Southeast Asia in the world championships.
She was supposed to compete against 41 delegates from different countries sans a substitute.
"With all the pandemic it has been a very difficult year already for training properly, because my rink was often half open and half closed. But I’m very thankful that I could still practice at least an a day," added Perticheto, who bagged silver medal in the senior women's singles event of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Despite the injury, Perticheto remained optimistic and vowed to come back stronger next season as well as for future Olympic qualifiers leading to the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China.
In 2017, Perticheto also captured bronze medal in the 29th SEA Games in Malaysia and ruled the prestigious Egna Spring Trophy, an international competition held every spring in Italy.
The world championships will begin its two-day official practice starting today, March 22, and kick off with an opening show on Wednesday, March 24, at the Ericsson Globe.
Meanwhile, fellow figure skater Kimberly Bertelsen will be among the performers for the opening ceremony.