Valentina Matos Explained

Valentina Matos
Fullname:Valentina Matos Romero
Country:Spain
Birth Date:28 September 2000
Birth Place:Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Hometown:Madrid, Spain
Height:1.75m
Coach:Barbara Luoni
Formercoach:Carolina Sanz, Ivan Saez, Jordi Lafarga
Choreographer:Carolina Sanz, Ivan Saez
Skating Club:La Nevera Madrid
Currenttraininglocations:Bergamo, Italy
Formertraininglocations:Madrid, Spain
Beganskating:2008
Combined Total:141.32
Combined Date:2019 CS Lombardia
Sp Score:50.25
Sp Date:2019 World
Fs Score:91.17
Fs Date:2019 CS Lombardia

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.

Personal life

Valentina Matos Romero was born on 28 September 2000 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She is of Venezuelan descent and arrived in Spain as a one-year-old. 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.

Career

Early years

Matos began learning to skate in 2008. 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

In 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.

In January 2017, Matos competed at the European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, but did not advance to the final segment. 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

Spain assigned Matos to compete at the 2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, the final qualifying opportunity for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Due to an ankle injury, 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.

2018–2019 season

Ahead of the 2018–2019 season, Matos decided to relocate to Italy to train with Barbara Luoni at IceLab in Bergamo.

Programs

SeasonShort programFree skating
2019–2020
2017–2019
  • My Immortal
  • The Last Coup
  • Garganta con Arena
2016–2017

Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International
Event13–1414–1515–1616–1717–1818–1919–20
align=left 34th
align=left 33rd 33rd 31st 28th
align=left 19th
align=left 15th
align=left WD
align=left 20th 10th
align=left WD
align=left 24th
align=left 14th
align=left 9th
align=left 15th 10th
align=left 13th
align=left 11th 14th 9th
align=left bgcolor=silver 2nd bgcolor=gold 1st
align=left 4th
align=left 14th
International: Junior
align=left 24th
align=left 17th
align=left 16th
align=left 26th
align=left Hellmut Seibt 18th
International: Novice[1]
align=left 9th
align=left bgcolor=silver 2nd
National
align=left bgcolor=silver 2nd N bgcolor=gold 1st N bgcolor=silver 2nd J bgcolor=gold 1st bgcolor=gold 1st bgcolor=gold 1st
Levels: N = Advanced novice; J = Junior
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Valentina MATOS . rinkresults.com .