Mexican Donovan Carrillo, the only Latin American figure skating competitor at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, made history Tuesday after he qualified for the men’s final, making him the first Mexican to qualify for two consecutive finals in the Winter Games.
Participating in a sport that’s rarely practiced professionally in Mexico, Carrillo, 26, achieved a score of 75.56 points in Tuesday’s short program, good enough for a ticket to Friday’s final but far behind the U.S. favorite Ilia Malinin’s 108.16. Carrillo squeaked into the finals by finishing 23rd out of 39, with the top 24 qualifying.
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Still, the Jalisco-born Carrillo was in a celebratory mood as he finished his routine. “This is for all of Mexico!” he shouted. “Dreams do come true!”
He later received congratulations from President Sheinbaum, who called him “ a great source of pride for Mexico.”
Carrillo struggled early with his triple axel (he had to use both hands to avoid hitting the ice, which, for scoring purposes, is considered a fall), but recovered his poise and retained his smile to finish strong.
“Of course, things could have gone better, they always can,” Carrillo told Olympics.com after his short program, when it was still unknown whether he would qualify for the final.
In the final competition, scheduled for Friday, Carrillo will try to improve on his 22nd-place finish in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The road to Milan Cortina
Carrillo is one of the 449 athletes from 90 National Olympic Committees who received a Solidarity Olympic Grant on their journey to the Milan Cortina Games. This support helped him cover key expenses in the process, such as training, equipment and travel. The program helps ensure that athletes, regardless of their background, have equal opportunities to reach the Olympic stage.
Carrillo also received support from his sponsors and a monthly stipend of 12,000 pesos (US $696) from Mexico’s National Sports Commission (Conade).
Originally from Guadalajara, Carrillo told Olympics.com that his journey to professional figure skating has not been easy — mainly because there’s no ice skating culture in Mexico.
“In Mexico, most of the ice rinks are inside shopping malls, and training in a rink where there are certain types of distractions and situations, like skating with music all the time, makes the training a little more challenging,” he said, adding that the ice is of a “much lower quality” than at international competitions.
Still, he made it to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where he was the first Mexican skater to qualify for an Olympic final.
With reports from Fox Deportes, El Financiero and Olympics.com
