Nerves got the best of Sofia Frank in the free skate segment of the Nebelhorn Trophy and she concluded her stint in Oberstdorf, Germany, at 24th overall on Saturday, September 25.

The Filipina-American earned 81.13 points in the free skate to finish with a total of 128.78 points as she landed at the bottom half of the 37-woman field and stumbled in her bid to earn the Philippines a Winter Olympics slot.

Only the top six skaters in the women’s division qualified for the Winter Games to be held in Beijing, China, in 2022.

Frank – the daughter of Filipina beauty queen Precious Tongko – got off to a promising start in the free skate but fell twice in the middle of her routine.

Her errors resulted in a costly four-point deduction, which led to Frank finishing the free skate at 29th.

Earlier in the tournament, Frank placed 22nd in the short program with 47.65 points.

USA’s Alysia Liu struck gold with 207.40 as she topped both the short program (70.86) and the free skate (136.54) to replicate the feat of compatriot Vincent Zhou, who ruled the men’s division.

Poland’s Ekaterina Kurakova (193.58) and Belarus’ Viktoriia Safonova (190.29) bagged silver and bronze, respectively.

Among those who also booked Winter Olympics tickets for their countries were Switzerland’s Alexia Paganini (180.48), Ukraine’s Anastasiia Shabotova (177.70), and Australia’s Kailani Craine (165.35).

Sweden’s Josefin Taljegard claimed sixth place with 166.05 points, but she did not join the Nebelhorn Trophy – the last figure skating qualifier for Beijing – to seek an Olympic spot.

The Philippines failed to claim an Olympic berth as Filipino-Canadian Edrian Paul Celestino wound up at 18th overall in the men’s division. – Rappler.com