YOUTHFUL speed skater and Harbin Asian Winter Games veteran Peter Groseclose, 18, will gun for a spot in the Winter Olympic Games in Cortina and Milano, Italy in 2027 when he competes in four ISU Short Track World Tour meets in October, according to ice skating chief Nikki Cheng.
“These four meets will determine the Special Olympic Qualifying Classifications in 2025,” according to Cheng, the Philippine Skating Union president, in a recent interview, starting with the International Skating Union 1 from Oct. 16 to 19 in Montreal, Canada.
The second one is set Oct. 23 to 26 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the third on Nov. 20-23 in Gdansk, Poland, while the fourth final one will be on Nov. 27-30 in Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Based on the ISU’s qualifying guidelines, the four SOQC’s for men are the races in the distances of 500, 1,000, 1,500 meters and 500-meter relay, with 32 slots available in the 500 and 1,000-meter contests and 36 in the 1,500-meter race.
It added that “in the individual events, NOCs with skaters ranked first in each distance obtain one starting place in the respective distance. Following that, the NOCs with skaters ranked second get one starting place and so on.
“Each SOQC takes into account the three best results out of four results over the respective distance of the four ISU Short Track World Tour competitions,” the guidelines explained.
“We believe that Peter has the best individual chance of qualifying for the Winter Olympic Games in 2027 so the PSU is going all out to give him every opportunity to make it to the Games,” Cheng said.
Michael Martinez was the last individual skater to compete for the Philippines in the Winter Olympics in the 2014 edition held in Sochi, Russia, winding up 19th overall with a combined tally of 184.25 points, 64.81 in the short program and 119.44 in the free skate.
Alpine skier Asa Miller was the lone Pinoy bet in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China.
