The Philippine Skating Union is preparing its skaters for the Four Continents Championships later this month.
Filipino skaters are approaching the Four Continents Championships with optimism following a decent run at the SEA Games 2025 in Thailand, where both Maxine Bautista and Paolo Borromeo came home with medals in the figure skating events last December.
Currently in form, Philippine Skating Union head Nikki Cheng said that the pair immediately went back to work after taking silver and bronze in the women’s and men’s figure skating event, respectively, in the biennial meet.
“Right after the Southeast Asian Games, [Maxine and Paolo] went back home and went straight away to training,” Cheng told media at the Mall of Asia Skating Rink.
After making waves in Thailand, Cheng is hoping that they can replicate the same success in the Four Continents Championships this January 21 to 25, which is one of the more elite competitions organized by the International Skating Union.
With four total skaters from the Philippines, including pair skaters Isabella Gamez and Aleksandr Korovin, Cheng is upbeat on being able to showcase Philippine talent on the world stage.
“The Four Continents Championships is of course a very big event. It's considered one of the international skating championship events and we're very glad that we have Philippine representatives that qualified to this championships.” she said.
In-form for competition
Unlike Bautista and Borromeo who were able to compete in the SEA Games last year, Gamez and Korovin were not included in the Philippine team for the biennial meet — because there wasn’t a pair skating event in Thailand. The Philippines is one of only a handful of countries with representatives in that specific sport.
But that doesn’t mean that the pair slacked off in terms of their preparations.
Rather, the PSU said that both skates have been hard at work even as their teammates competed in Thailand, seeing action at the 2025 Golden Spin of Zagreb in Croatia also last December.
They placed 13th in that competition, still giving them invaluable preparation for the upcoming competition.
“They are currently training in Russia. It's been a few months or actually for the whole year they were there. And so they're preparing intensely for Four Continents.” said Cheng.
The Philippines has yet to medal in the competition and will gun for an inspiring run to rewrite history books in Beijing.
(With reports from Maureen Muarip/One Sports Digital)
—
Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.emb