At the age of 22, the Mexican figure skater graduated from his first Olympic Games and did so with words of gratitude as he left the ice rink of the indoor stadium in Beijing. Donovan Carrillo obtained from the nine judges a score of 138.44 in the free program, which added to his score from the short program (last Monday), which was 79.69, achieved a total of 218.13, his personal best, since before it was 204.78. Right at the end of his participation, he placed fourth in his group.
The podium was made up as follows: the gold went to the American Nathan Chen with 332.60 units, who performed 5 quadruples accompanied by the music of Elton John with the song Rocket Man. The United States returned to first place in the men’s singles category after 12 years.
For Nathan it meant his second winter Olympic gold medal, since in the Pyeongchang 2018 edition he was crowned in the group event.
The silver and bronze went to the Japanese Yuma Kagiyama with 310.05 points and Shoma Uno with 293.00. Donovan placed 22nd out of 24 places, after scoring 66.56 in the elements, while in the components qualification he scored 72.88, deducting a point for a fall.
“We have had good results, in the short and long program. In general I felt a bit nervous but it is part of skating, the results were obtained by trying to fight for everything and not giving up”.
“Practicing figure skating has not been easy, I appreciate every adverse and difficult situation that has built me, I thank those who have supported me and the people who told me that I was never going to achieve anything, in them I found inspiration to practice and continue in the winter sports,” he said.
Donovan, the only Latin American in the final, presented his choreography with music: ‘Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps’ by Daniel Boaventura and Carlos Rivera, ‘María’ by Ricky Martin and ‘Sway’ by Dean Martin. His black suit was designed by Brad Griffins, who is known for his crystal-encrusted ensembles. Off the track, Donovan wore a red jacket with a mask print in homage to Mexican wrestling.
“I’m sure there are many better things to come. I was surprised to see the response of the country with my participation in Beijing, I am sure that we will achieve great things. With a view to the 2026 Milan Games”.
The Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, who has three Olympic periods, finished with a rating of 188.06 and in fourth place. He was expected to take a record three consecutive golds, following his successes at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.
