"It wasn't always that way. But moving to Toronto, Carrillo struggled in anonymity for ice time and support in a country with more symphony orchestras than skating rinks. On the eve of his junior international debut, the rink where he trained in Guadalajara closed so, at 13, Carrillo followed his coach, Gregorio Núñez, to León, where he practiced in a shopping mall, sharing the dark, undersized ice with teenagers on dates and frightened preschoolers wobbling on rented skates."
"Last summer Andrea Montesinos, a two-time Mexican women's champion, followed him to Toronto to train with coaches Jonathan Mills and Myke Gillman, who also work with teenager María Velazquez, Mexico's novice national champion. "With him coming from the background that he's come from and seeing how he's grown and developed, it's given nothing but a positivity to the younger skaters in Mexico to feel like they can do it too," Gillman said. "He's a huge influence on them. He's their hero.""
Suburban Toronto hosts Mexico's Olympic figure skater Donovan Carrillo, who moved there 2½ years ago to train. Carrillo was the only Mexican and one of three Latin Americans at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and will represent Mexico at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games. His relocation has encouraged other Mexican skaters to train in Toronto, including two-time national women's champion Andrea Montesinos and novice champion María Velazquez. Carrillo trained in precarious conditions in Mexico—rinks closed, brief practices in a shopping mall shared with dates and young children—before moving abroad. Coaches Jonathan Mills and Myke Gillman provide training and mentorship, and Carrillo has become a role model for younger Mexican skaters.
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