Playa del Carmen roller skaters help Quintana Roo finish sixth nationally

Playa del Carmen’s roller skaters delivered 11 gold, 8 silver and 10 bronze medals at the CONADE National Olympics, a haul that helped Quintana Roo finish sixth nationally and lifted the municipality’s overall count to 72 medals across eight sports. Sailing also powered the city’s total, with Playa del Carmen athletes adding 8 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze medals in that discipline.

Mayor Estefanía Mercado recognized the athletes and coaches at a June 24 ceremony organized by the Municipal Sports Institute, but the larger story sits in the structure behind the medals. Playa del Carmen’s athletes finished with 25 gold, 19 silver and 28 bronze medals overall, a spread that shows the city producing results in roller skating, sailing, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting, wrestling, surfing, artistic swimming and boxing rather than relying on one breakout sport.

The roller skating numbers are the clearest sign of a system that is starting to compound. In January, Playa del Carmen hosted the state selection event at the Poliforum skating rink, where 70 child and youth athletes from Benito Juárez, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen took part in shaping Quintana Roo’s team for the 2026 National Olympics. Quintana Roo Sports Commission head Jacobo Arzate called the state’s roller skating the best in the country, and Mexican Federation of Roller Skating president Nicolás Santibáñez said the Playa del Carmen rink met the technical conditions to stage national and international events.

That combination of venue quality, broad participation and age-group depth helps explain why the city has become a medal engine. The June results also fit a wider state surge: Quintana Roo finished with 83 gold medals and 233 total medals, and the state’s roller skating strength reached beyond Playa del Carmen. Eleven-year-old Isla Mujeres skater Yessica Jocabed Koh Pastrana won five gold medals at CONADE 2026, showing how young the talent base already is.

For Playa del Carmen, the medal haul is more than a celebration of one week in June. It reflects a working pipeline, from child and youth selection events to national podium finishes, that is beginning to place Quintana Roo among Mexico’s most productive roller-skating programs.