COLORADO, USA — Mexican born, Donovan Carrillo, made history in Beijing for a second time by becoming the first Mexican man to advance to the Olympic figure skating long program at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
After the participation of Diana Evans, Mayda Navarro and Ricardo Olavarrieta, Carrillo achieved the feat obtaining a score of 79.69 points in the so-called short routine.
The young Carrillo, a native of Zapopan, Jalisco, is now among the best 24 skaters of the day and will move to the next phase that will take place on Wednesday.
Carrillo qualified in the first Olympic spot for Mexico in 30 years by placing 20th at the 2021 World Championships, the best result for a Mexican male skater in the history of the event.
The last time there was an appearance was in 1992 when Mayda Navarro and Ricardo Olavarrieta participated in the individual figure skating event at the Albertville Olympics.
Like many Mexican children, Carrillo, 22, tried to play soccer when he was little. But realizing that he had two left feet, and inspired by his sister and figure skater Javier Fernandez, the Mexican born figure skater ended up skating across an ice rink instead.
“Since I was little, Javier Fernández was an inspiration to me because he came from a country where figure skating was not a main sport,” Carrillo said in his Olympic bio. “Soccer, like in Mexico, is very popular there. So he started to change that mentality and the sport started to grow with him."
Carrillo began learning to skate in Guadalajara when he was eight years old.
At the age of 13, he was forced to move to León with his coach after the ice rink where he lived closed.
Carrillo has trained in a shopping mall ice rink since and although it did not have the Olympic dimensions, he still qualified for Beijing.
According to AP News, the first time Carrillo knew there was a Winter Olympics was when he looked at the 2010 Vancouver competitions.
Now he not only holds the first Olympic spot for Mexico in three decades, but the young skater achieved an Olympic first advancing to the figure skating long program.
“Now, in a certain way with my result, I have shown that no dream is too big when you are willing to do everything necessary and keep a firm focus on what you aspire to," Carrillo said. "I want to bring hope and motivation to the new generations. That is one of my biggest goals in life.”
He is one of four athletes representing Mexico at the Winter Olympics. The others are Rodolfo Dickson in alpine skiing, Jonathan Soto in cross-country skiing and Sarah Schleper in alpine skiing.
Selected as the flag bearer for Mexico alongside Colorado's Sarah Schleper, Carrillo will compete in the Men's Single Skating- Free skating on February 9 from 6:38 p.m. to 10:27 p.m. MST.
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