Philippine figure skater Christopher Caluza continued to turn heads on the skating rink, delivering another silver to the country’s swelling medal haul on Sunday.
As the penultimate performer in the free skate of the 30th Southeast Asian Games men’s ice skating, Caluza delivered a passionate performance in front of his home crowd at the SM Megamall Skating Rink, buoying him onto the podium as the first runner-up.
Two days ago, Caluza finished with 62.37 in the short program to place solo second two days ago. Then today, he tallied 56.53 points in the technical elements and 61.32 points in the presentation department en route to 117.85 points in free skate. He amassed a total score of 180.22 points.
Caluza, a SEA Games first-timer, was unable to strike gold, though. His output fell short of the consensus favorite Julian Yee of Malaysia.
Yee — who has competed at the Winter Olympics and other prestigious figure skating tilts — performed a riveting free skate routine that notched a score of 139.27, dazzling his way to the top with a total score of 202.62.
On the other hand, the Philippines’ Edrian Celestino was just 4.47 shy of finishing in the top three. Celestino, who ranked third in the short program with 61.52 points, churned out a 108.07 output in the free skate to end up with a total score of 169.59 points. Micah Kai Lynette of Thailand earned bronze with 174.06 points.
