SOFIA FRANK ranked No. 22 and Edrian Celestino wound up No. 16 in their respective events to find themselves on the radar’s edge at the Nebelhorn Trophy 2021—a qualifying tournament for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022—at the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf in Oberstdorf, Germany, on Thursday.
The Filipino-American Frank, only 15, now needs a strong finish at the women’s free skate program on Saturday to earn a ticket to the Beijing Games set from February 4 to 20.
Philippine Skating Union (PSU) President Nikki Cheng told BusinessMirror on Friday that Frank was 22nd in a field of 37, while Celestino, 23, was 16th among 30 participants in the men’s short program.
“Sofia placed 22 of 37, but we’re looking at the scores rather than the ranking,” Cheng said.
To qualify for Beijing, Frank must land at least in sixth place on Saturday, while Celestino needed to finish in the top seven in the continuation of his event late Friday.
The Colorado Springs-based Frank tallied a score of 47.65 in her routine that she performed with the Donna Summer hit Last Dance.
Cheng said that Frank’s Coach Tammy Gambill would need to strategize in the free skate to get a better result.
Frank showcased her best on the ice with a triple double toe loop, a triple loop and a double axel in her routine.
“It was a close fight. Scores were close for the next few skaters that scored better than Sofia,” Cheng said. “But the coaches are strategizing with her and she will get a call from her main coach Tammy Gambill today.”
Gambill is one of the more sought after figure skating coaches in the US, having been a national lever skater herself. She started coaching at a young age of 19.
Two-time champion American Alysa Liu topped the short program with 70.86, followed by Swiss Alexia Paganini with 65.65, Viktoriia Safanova of Belarus with 62.02, Australian Kailani Craine with 61.62 and Ukrainian Anastasila Shabotova with 61.49.
Ekaterina Kurakova of Poland was sixth with a score of 61.04, 14 points ahead of Frank.
Celestino, on the other hand, posted 64.32 points in his “In This Shirt” by the Irrepressibles. Performance.
American Vincent Zhou stood in front with 97.35, followed by Adam Siao Him Fa of France with 89.23 and Australian Brendan Kerry with 85.89.
“Hopefully, they will do their best in the free skate and get high scores,” PSU National Coach Abraham Domdom said.
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