TOP Filipino skater Isabella Gamez and her Russian partner Alexander Korovin qualified for the International Skating Union (ISU) 2023 World Figure Skating Championships set March 20 to 26 in Saitama, Japan.
Philippine Skating Union (PSU) Nikki Cheng confirmed their qualification to BusinessMirror on Sunday saying Gamez will be the first from the Philippines and Southeast Asia to qualify for the pairs competition in the world championships.
“History is made once again by our figure skating duo of Isabella and Alexander,” Cheng said.
“The five-year spell has already broken at last.”
Olympian Michael Martinez was the last Filipino to skate (individual) in the world championships in the 2017 Helsinki edition. He finished 24 out of 36 in the men’s skate event.
The pair advanced to the Saitama world championships with their 31.33 points in the short program of the Challenge Cup in Tilburg, The Netherlands, Sunday.
They passed the ISU minimum technical requirement of 29 points.