53 skaters from 11 different countries, namely; Argentina, Grenada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, India, Mongolia, South Africa, Uzbekistan and Thailand participated in the final leg of the ISU World Development Trophy for Figure Skating last week in the Philippines.
The participants took part in daily on and off ice practices and the coaches attended lectures on methodology and techniques of skating elements and ISU Regulations. A competition was organized on the final day and for some of the participants it was the first time that they could compete in an ISU sanctioned event and take part in classes with Figure Skating coach and choreographer Mr. Victor Kudryavtsev.
The competition took place on Saturday which gave the skaters the opportunity to not only put their new skills to the test but also to perform in front of a full panel of judges, technical specialists and a crowd of hundreds of spectators, for some skaters this was a first.
Novice A Boys
Evan Wrench (RSA) finished first while New Zealander Harrison Bain got the silver medal and Luc Hong Zhe Ong (SIN) received bronze.
Novice B boys
Sout African Matthew Samuels was crowned Novice B Champion. Chadwick Wang from Singapore finished second and Nicholas Zhi Ming Tan (MAS) was the bronze medalist.
Novice A girls
Amber Britz (RSA) received the gold medal, while Louwee Shibata got the silver medal in front of her home crowd. Tracy Danbrook from New Zealand finished third.
Novice B girls
Abigail Samuels (RSA) became Novice B Champion followed by Sofia Isabel Victoria Guidote (PHI) and Abe Heale (NZL).
Junior Men
The Junior Malaysian Men did a clean sweep with Julian Zhi-Jie Yee at the top of the podium followed by Kai Xiang Chew and Bryan Chrsitopher Tan.
Junior Ladies
Promsan Rattanadilok Na Phuket from Thailand was crowned Junior Champion, Celine Mei Ling Hartmann (SIN) got the silver medal while Oliya Naomi Clarkson (GRE) finished third.
The event in the Philippines was the third and final of the ISU World Development Trophy series. The first leg took place from 26-30 March in Cieszyn (POL) and the second leg was in Singapore (SIN) on April 9-13 and focused on the development of Short Track Speed Skating.