PUTRAJAYA — National figure skater Julian Yee Zhi-Jie has his sight set on the 2018 Winter Olympics after breaking his personal best score at the 11th Malaysia Open National Championships yesterday.

The 18-year-old won in the senior men’s short programme and free skating categories with a total of 216.76 points, to better his previous tally of 202.94 points at the World Championships in Boston earlier this month.

Julian, who won for the fourth consecutive time since participating 10 years ago, appealed for more financial help to continue excelling.

“It’s expensive, but to keep this up, I need everyone’s support,” said Julian, who was given RM20,000 for his win by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) through their trust-fund geared towards helping athletes achieve their goals.

“The national association (Ice Skating Association of Malaysia) have helped but the fund isn’t enough. This win is proof I want to go far in the sport.”

Julian, who also won the junior men’s singles title in 2011, had started an online crowd-funding project to finance his overseas training stints in China, South Korea and Canada until the Olympics in Pyeong Chang, South Korea.

The project generated RM27,970 over two months and with the fund from OCM, Julian has accumulated RM47,970.

“We’re targeting RM250,000. It’s a lot, but that’s the amount I need to sustain my training,” said the world No 52.

“The season has ended now, but when it begins again I’ll focus on the World Championships in Finland next March.”

The World Championships will act as one of the Olympic qualifying meets.