Isabella Gamez and naturalized Filipino-Russian Aleksandr Korovin offered no excuses after placing fourth in the mixed pair free skating competition at the 9th Asian Winter Games on Wednesday.

The Filipino pair – one of the country’s medal prospects in the continental games – accumulated a total of 155.62 points after their impressive repertoires, but these weren’t enough to overshadow Uzbekistan, the People’s Republic of Korea, and Japan.  

“It’s just the nerves that really caught up to me. I just wanted to represent our flag so much and be strong, but mentally I wasn’t there,” said the 26-year-old Gamez, who, alongside 30-year-old Korovin, performed a four-minute routine to the tune of ‘Somewhere in Time."

“That’s what we need to improve for us to be successful and raise our Philippine flag,” added Gamez of their routine which even earned them 99.99 points in free skate.

Gamez, a two-time national champion, praised her partner for doing a great job in their debut, where they obtained 55.63 points, still enough for them to qualify for the free skate the next day.

“For us, it’s not what we need to do physically, but it’s what we need to do more mentally. We need to make a quick change mentally. You know, I really let myself out. Aleksandr did good, he did his job, and he did everything,” she said. “Me? I was just a little under the weather, but I let myself go today.

Uzbekistan’s Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitriy Chigirev nailed the gold medal with 176.43 total combined points from short program and free skate, while Tae Ok Ryom and Kum Chol Han of North Korea bagged the silver with 168.88 points.

Japan’s Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi tallied 168.35 and got the bronze medal.

Host China’s Wang Yuchen and Zhu Lei placed fifth with 143.76 points, while Japanese Shimizu Sae and Raphael Honda ended last with 135.58 points.

Gamez and Korovin are the first pair from the Philippines and Southeast Asia to participate in the final of the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships and the first medalists for the country in pairs skating on the international level.

“Improvement since three years ago? Yes, so it’s a big jump, but we still need to be more confident in ourselves,” Korovin said.

The duo is set to compete in the 2025 Four Continent Figure Skating Championships from February 19 to 23 at the Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul, South Korea to strengthen their bid for next year’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, the Philippine women’s curling team composed of Kathleen Dubberstein, Leilani Sumbillo An, and Anne Bonache ended its campaign with four wins against four losses after beating Chinese-Taipei in its last game at the round-robin matches, 9-2.