Twelve months ago Mexico’s Diego Villalobos Carrillo had yet to set foot on deck at a senior international competition. Heading into the final day of the artistic swimming competition at Doha 2024, the 18-year-old is already now a two-time World Aquatics Championships medallist.

It has been a rapid ascent for the teenager who has only been training as an artistic swimmer for three years. Having to leave his school, family, and friends, to set up life in a new city to pursue a new sport, Villalobos Carrillo now describes that decision back in 2020 as a one that "changed his life".

Today he will be aiming to win his third World Aquatics Championships medal alongside Trinidad Meza Rodriguez in the Mixed Duet Free, having won silver in the Mixed Duet Free at Fukuoka 2023 with Itzamary Gonzalez Cuellar and bronze in the Mixed Duet Technical earlier these championships with Miranda Barrera Jimenez.

However regardless of today’s result, Villalobos Carrillo’s past twelve months have already resulted in exceptional growth in the sport back home. Combined with his infectious positivity, hard-working nature, and personal desire to inspire the next generation, if Villalobos Carrillo doesn’t manage to become a world champion today, it surely won’t be a long wait for this junior who is already Mexico’s most successful artistic swimmer of all-time.

11 Quick Questions with Carrillo  

This time last year you hadn’t even been to a World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup meet. Now you’re sitting here as a two-time world champion. It has been a pretty special twelve months.

"It has been amazing and I am so grateful for everything that we’ve achieved as a country in this sport over the past year. I haven’t been in this sport for a long time, but in the little time I have been here, I’ve worked hard and trained a lot. I’m so happy with the results over the past twelve months and with the two World Championships medals, but I do know they are a reward for the work I am putting in."

It was only last May that you went to your first World Cup event in Egypt. Was this the beginning of you realising there was a future for you in this sport and that you could match it with the best swimmers in the world at a senior international level? 

"I was so excited to be named for a senior international competition. I had been to the World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships in Canada the year before, but this was very different and a great step up. Especially with the rule changes I went with high expectations."

In Egypt, you won bronze in the Mixed Duet Free and then it was almost straight to Fukuoka for your first World Aquatics Championships where you and Itzamary (Gonzalez Cuella) won Mexico’s first-ever medal in artistic swimming. Was there a point in Fukuoka where you realised you were not just competing with the best duets in the world, but you were one of the best duets in the world?

"Egypt went really well and I thought going to Fukuoka would be really beneficial for us as a duet and that there would be a lot to learn. I was also excited to be going to my first World Championships. Never did I expect to actually win a medal. It was a big surprise and from there it really motivated me a lot to keep working hard for the next lot of competitions including these Doha championships and to keep winning medals."

The success in Fukuoka appears to have almost been a breakout moment for artistic swimming in Mexico and was soon followed by team success at the Pan-American Games where the girls secured the country’s spot for the Paris Olympics.

"I hope it has been and I hope that it will now inspire more generations to come. That gold medal in the Pan American Games and the Olympics qualification will definitely help the sport grow in Mexico. It is something that I know drives me and everyone in the team. We have a responsibility to perform and deliver results to ensure we can motivate the next group of young artistic swimmers that will one day take our spots, and we will keep trying to win medals to ensure the sport continues to grow back home."

Behind all this success I know you have had to make sacrifices along the way with training, school, friends and family. Do you feel like the success you have had in Fukuoka and now in Doha has made it all worthwhile?

"I do feel like everything has been worth it. I did have to leave my city for training. I left my school, my family, and my friends, and had to setup in a new city as a teenager. But it was for something that I like and it was something I chose to do. My parents have always supported me and I am really grateful for the opportunities I have been given and have a lot of people to thank for these two world championships medals."

Including yourself Diego! Not just the sacrifices you’ve made as a teenager but the quality of the routines both here and in Fukuoka. They have been exceptional. There has obviously been a lot of work behind the scenes. What does training look like?

"We always have our sessions of fitness, flexibility, and marking the routines out of the water to balance the movements, however, most of the training is in the water working on the routines."

It must have taken a bit of time to get used to. I know you were previously a diver but there is a clear difference between diving into the water and trying to keep your body above the water!

"When I started I was definitely a beginner and had to work on floating and controlling the water. I was a swimmer so I knew how to swim and having been a diver as well also helped me have a lot to have control of my body. But most importantly I have had a team of more experienced girls to be able to work with, see movements under the water, and to learn from."

Tomorrow it is your final event of Doha 2024. What comes next?

"I will head back to Mexico and keep training and learning. I want to keep competing at these high-level meets and will keep chasing medals for my country."

And I know the lockscreen on your phone is a photo of a World Championships gold medal so no doubt there is a big desire to win one of those as well?

"Yes of course. That is my ultimate motivation."

Aside from the medals, there must be such a satisfaction to be able to do something you enjoy and do it well enough to compete at meets like here in Doha.

"I love the art of breathing and floating. It is such a beautiful sport and it really makes me happy when I’m in the water."

So that decision you made to switch sports, leave your city, you family and your friends, it clearly has been worthwhile.

"It has changed my life. I have had the opportunity to travel, to be able to attend championships like this, to meet incredible people from all over the world, and to learn from many cultures, many languages, and now have so many new friends."