Edrian Celestino shrugged off some rust and first-time jitters to put himself in 16th place with a score of 64.32 after the short program of the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy men’s singles event held in Oberstdorf, Germany, Thursday.
For another Olympic cycle, the tournament serves as a qualifier to next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, with the top seven male skaters flying to the Chinese capital.
Celestino is almost 12 points adrift eighth-placed Roman Sadovsky of Canada – the last possible eligible skater in the leaderboard, since Italy’s Gabriele Frangipani was not in the tournament for Olympic qualification. He then has his work cut out for him heading into the free skate on Friday.
The 2019 national champion nailed all his jumps to take 32.69 points off the technical elements. Celestino’s double axel turned out to be the highlight of the program, with solid execution earning GOE’s of 2 from six of the judges.
USA’s Vincent Zhou is on a mission of getting another Olympic berth for his nation, leading the pack with a huge 97.35 points. He is well ahead of second-placed Adam Siao Him Fa of France who had 89.23.
Celestino looks to continue the country’s streak of Olympic qualification in the men’s singles figure skating. He competes for all the marbles in the free skate on Friday, 2:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m., Manila time).
