Valentina Matos Romero (born 28 September 2000) is a figure skater. Born in the Dominican Republic, she represents Spain in ladies singles. She is the 2019 Open d'Andorra champion and a three-time Spanish national champion (2016, 2018, 2019). She has competed in the final segment at one ISU Championship.
| Valentina Matos | |
|---|---|
 Matos at the 2019 Challenge Cup | |
| Full name | Valentina Matos Romero |
| Born | 28 September 2000 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Hometown | Madrid, Spain |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Figure skating career | |
| Country | Spain |
| Coach | Barbara Luoni |
| Skating club | La Nevera Madrid |
| Began skating | 2008 |
Personal life
editValentina Matos Romero was born on 28 September 2000 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[1][2] She is of Venezuelan descent and arrived in Spain as a one-year-old.[3] After finishing secondary school, she began studying at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid through distance education. During her studies, she went abroad for two semesters in South-Korea. During this year of studying abroad (2021-2022), she lived in a standard plus room at H-Stay (Seoul) and studied at Hanyang University and won MVP during the Squid Game season along with a winter jacket.[4]
Career
editEarly years
editMatos began learning to skate in 2008.[2] She won the novice ladies' title at the Spanish Championships in December 2014. Her junior international debut came in September 2015, at the Lombardia Trophy. In December 2015, she became the Spanish national junior silver medalist.
2016–2017 season
editIn October 2016, Matos competed for the first time on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series. In November, making her senior international debut, she won silver at the Open d'Andorra. The following month, she outscored Sonia Lafuente by 6.09 points for the senior ladies' title at the Spanish Championships.[3]
In January 2017, Matos competed at the European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, but did not advance to the final segment.[5] She qualified to the free skate and finished 24th overall at the 2017 World Junior Championships, held in March in Taipei, Taiwan.
2017–2018 season
editSpain assigned Matos to compete at the 2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, the final qualifying opportunity for the 2018 Winter Olympics.[6] Due to an ankle injury,[4] she withdrew before the start of the event. She placed 33rd at the 2018 European Championships in Moscow, Russia. She was coached by Carolina Sanz, Ivan Saez, and Jordi Lafarga at La Nevera in Madrid.[2]
2018–2019 season
editAhead of the 2018–2019 season, Matos decided to relocate to Italy to train with Barbara Luoni at IceLab in Bergamo.[4]
Programs
edit| Season | Short program | Free skating |
|---|---|---|
| 2019–2020 [7] |
|
|
| 2017–2019 [4][2] |
|
|
| 2016–2017 [8] |
|
|
Competitive highlights
editCS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
| International[9] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 13–14 | 14–15 | 15–16 | 16–17 | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 |
| Worlds | 34th | ||||||
| Europeans | 33rd | 33rd | 31st | 28th | |||
| CS Alpen Trophy | 19th | ||||||
| CS Finlandia | 15th | ||||||
| CS Golden Spin | WD | ||||||
| CS Lombardia | 20th | 10th | |||||
| CS Nebelhorn | WD | ||||||
| CS Warsaw Cup | 24th | ||||||
| Bavarian Open | 14th | ||||||
| Denis Ten Memorial | 9th | ||||||
| Golden Bear | 15th | 10th | |||||
| Ice Star | 13th | ||||||
| Challenge Cup | 11th | 14th | 9th | ||||
| Open d'Andorra | 2nd | 1st | |||||
| Santa Claus Cup | 4th | ||||||
| Universiade | 14th | ||||||
| International: Junior[9] | |||||||
| Junior Worlds | 24th | ||||||
| JGP Germany | 17th | ||||||
| Lombardia Trophy | 16th | ||||||
| Santa Claus Cup | 26th | ||||||
| Hellmut Seibt | 18th | ||||||
| International: Novice[10] | |||||||
| Challenge Cup | 9th | ||||||
| Open d'Andorra | 2nd | ||||||
| National[9] | |||||||
| Spanish Champ. | 2nd N | 1st N | 2nd J | 1st | 1st | 1st | |
| Levels: N = Advanced novice; J = Junior TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew | |||||||
References
edit- ^ "Historial Patinadores FMDI Valentina Matos Romero" (in Spanish). Federación Madrileña de Deportes de Invierno.
- ^ a b c d "Valentina MATOS: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018.
- ^ a b Lamelas, Pedro (20 December 2016). "El futuro se llama Valentina Matos" [The future is named Valentina Matos]. Marca (in Spanish).
- ^ a b c d ""En el IceLab he encontrado un sistema entrenamiento global"". hieloespanol.es (in Spanish). 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018.
- ^ Lamelas, Pedro (25 January 2017). "La falta de experiencia puede con Valentina Matos" [Valentina Matos affected by lack of experience]. Marca (in Spanish).
- ^ Lamelas, Pedro (24 August 2017). "Valentina Matos luchará por la plaza olímpica en patinaje artístico" [Valentina Matos will fight for an Olympic spot in figure skating]. Marca (in Spanish).
- ^ "Valentina MATOS: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019.
- ^ "Valentina MATOS: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017.
- ^ a b c "Competition Results: Valentina MATOS". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018.
- ^ "Valentina MATOS". rinkresults.com.