FILIPINA-AMERICAN standout Maxine Marie Bautista got the boost from a supportive audience when she won the recent Philippine National Figure Skating Championships 2024 at the SM Skating Rink inside the Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
Fans were in awe of the clean execution of her moves and two particularly difficult jumps, when the 23-year old Bautista upset back-to-back champion and fellow Fil-Am Sofia Frank as she ran away with the senior women’s crown.
The Chicago, Illinois-based Bautista, competing for the first time on local soil, convinced the judges of her great skills when she executed a triple lutz and a triple toe-double toe combo smoothly during the short and freestyle programs.
Local fans whooped it up as Bautista, coached by jumps specialist Alexander Ouriashev, picked up a total of 132.84 points to emerge ahead of five others.
Bautista, who is from River Grove, placed ahead of Massachusetts-based Cathryn Limketkai, who took second with 123.24 points.
“It’s been an amazing finals. The audience has been supportive. I could not ask for a better environment to compete,” said Bautista, whose parents Arnold and Victoria, both nurses, were from Lian, Batangas before migrating to the United States.
Bautista talked of her experience during Sunday’s annual fundraising ice show, “Carols on Ice,” at the MOA rink by the Philippine Skating Union to promote skate sports in the country. The event also served as the closing ceremony for the National Championships.
She earned a spot for the national team that will compete in the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China in February next year.
Frank settled for third place, placing third in the short program and settling for fourth in the freestyle event, for a total of 108.79 points.
Another United States-based standout in Lillianna Fish and Cebuana teen Giuliana Dinopol shared the limelight with Bautista as they ruled the supporting categories of the two-day meet organized by the PHSU and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Fish, a standout from the Carolina Figure Skating Club, rose from fifth place in the short program with a top finish in the free skating event, to claim the junior women’s crown with 92.89 points.
Isabella Hazelton moved up from third spot to take the no. 2 position and grab the silver with 90.82 points, ahead of Samantha Mascarinas (89.17).
Dinopol, a prized find from Liloan, Cebu, showed consistency in taking the no. 1 spots in both the short program and freestyle events as she nailed the advanced novice girls’ honors with 66.83 points.
