KUALA LUMPUR: Julian Yee became the first-ever Malaysian figure skater to qualify for the Winter Olympics after placing sixth at the 49th CS Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany, on Thursday.
The 20-year-old, who is ranked 38 in the world, recorded his personal best total score of 220.67 points, breaking his previous best of 220 points, set back in 2016.
Julian, who was the first-ever skater to represent Malaysia at the ISU World Championship in 2016, came in sixth in his short programme, with a score of 71.93 points.
But it was the 2017 Sea Games gold medallist’s free skate routine that garnered him the much-needed points (148.74) to place him in the top seven to qualify for Pyeongchang.
Belgium’s Jorik Hendrickx finished in first (253.06 pts), followed by American Alexander Johnson (226.04 pts), Alexander Majorov of Sweden (225.04 pts), Italy’s Matteo Rizzo (223.27 pts) and Lee June Hyoung of Korea (222.89 pts), respectively.
Lady luck was also shining down on Julian’s closest Southeast Asian rival, Michael Christian Martinez of the Philippines, who also qualified despite finishing eighth.
His combined score of 191.74 points placed him behind Ukraine’s Yaroslav Paniot in seventh with 208.76 points, and qualified for the Winter Olympics due to Johnson’s prior eligibility to the Games – which meant Martinez finished in the top seven.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Jeffrey Webb also qualified for the Winter Olympics in Alpine Skiing earlier in the year.