Donovan Carrillo’s Difficult Journey from Guadalajara to the Olympics

Donovan Carrillo is the best figure skater Mexico has ever produced. Donovan grew up in Guadalajara and started skating at age 8. Before that, he competed in diving and artistic gymnastics and took ballet classes to improve his grace and movement.

When he was 13, the rink where he trained closed. He had to leave his home and follow his coach, Gregorio Núñez, to León, Guanajuato. There, he practiced in a shopping mall. The ice was small and dark. He shared it with teenagers on dates and small children learning to skate. Often, he had to perform without music to avoid disturbing the other skaters. He trained like this for years.

For most of his career, Carrillo received no money from the Mexican government. He only entered the high-performance program in 2019, six years after his first international representation for Mexico. The year he qualified for the senior world championships in Japan and finally received a monthly stipend of 37,000 pesos, or just over 21,000 $USD.

But Donovan makes it clear that money or fame has never been much of a concern for him. “Scarcity be damned, when I’m skating, and on the rink, is the only time I feel truly myself. You just can’t put a price on that,” the skater confessed to the Olympic Committee in a podcast.

Before that, his family paid for everything. His parents took out loans. They organized raffles, breakfast sales, and fundraisers. Friends and relatives donated what they could. His coach also put his own money toward competition expenses. Carrillo worked teaching children at the ice rink to help pay for his own training. He said this was not the ideal way to prepare for the highest level of sport. He carried the stress of money while trying to perfect quadruple jumps.

At the Beijing 2022 Games, Carrillo made history. He was the first Mexican figure skater in 30 years to qualify for the Winter Olympics. He reached the free skate final and finished 22nd. It was the best result ever by a Latin American male skater. He scored 218.13 points, his personal best. He became famous overnight.

But his government funding did not increase. The head of Conade (Mexico’s sports governing body), Ana Guevara, said his 30,000-peso monthly stipend would not rise. She said winter sports follow a different calendar from summer sports. She would wait until after the world championships in France to evaluate his results. If he did not improve his ranking, his stipend could drop to only 6,000 pesos per month. Guevara said the money was not meant to be a salary. She called it an incentive for good results, not a means of living.

Carrillo went to the world championships in Montpellier in March 2022. He was ready to compete. But his luggage never arrived. A courier company failed to deliver his skates to the airline. They were lost. He was given a new pair, but they did not fit properly. He did not feel safe or confident. 

After trying everything to find his equipment, he withdrew from the competition. He was devastated. The president of the Mexican Olympic Committee said it was devastating to lose an event due to others’ human error. The International Skating Union confirmed the reason for his withdrawal.

Because he did not compete, there was no result to evaluate. His funding remained uncertain. In late 2025, Guevara said his scholarship depended entirely on his world ranking. She said he knew the rules. The money was not about the budget but about performance and commitment.

Carrillo realized he could not grow any further in Mexico. His skating had stayed the same for three years. He said he was getting older and did not want to regret not trying something different. In 2023, he made a difficult decision. He left his long-time coach Gregorio Núñez, who had been like a father to him, and moved to Toronto, Canada.

In Toronto, he began training with Jonathan Mills and Myke Gillman at a community center rink. For the first time, he had access to full-size ice, music during practice, and a team of specialists. He worked with a strength trainer, a psychologist, a chiropractor, and a massage therapist. He did Pilates and dance. He changed his diet. He spent about six hours a day training. He said it was a life-changer. He finally felt complete and better prepared.

Carrillo still receives some support from Conade and has sponsors such as Toyota and HSBC. But he said he hopes future Mexican skaters will not have to leave the country to train and compete at the highest levels. 

“When my career is over, I want to be able to look back on this time and know I opened the doors for others,” said Donovan Carillo during a recent interview with El Universal.