Ana Cecilia Cantú

Cantú Félix was born on September 14, 1985, in Monterrey, Mexico.^[1] She has a younger sister, who also competed internationally in figure skating.^[2]

Cantú began skating in 1992.^[1] In 2001, she debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series at the Salchow Trophy, where she placed 24th.^[3]

During the 2002–2003 season, Cantú trained in Monterrey, coached by Edgar Beckley and Doris Beckley, and in Simsbury, Connecticut, coached by Galina Zmievskaya and the Petrenkos.^[4] She was assigned to represent Mexico at three ISU Championships – the 2003 Four Continents in Beijing, China; 2003 Junior Worlds in Ostrava, Czech Republic; and 2003 Worlds in Washington, D.C.

She qualified to the free skate at 2003 Four Continents and finished 20th. During the event, Cantú's bag with her skates vanished after the short program, but her teammate, Ingrid Roth, who had not advanced to the next segment, lent her own skates to Cantú.^[4]

In the 2004–2005 season, Cantú was coached by the Beckleys and Steve Moore in Simsbury.^[5] She placed 22nd at the 2005 Four Continents Championships in Gangneung, South Korea. The following 2 seasons, she trained by herself in Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, Mexico. She ranked 18th at the 2006 Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In 2005, she began training with coach Richard O'Neill.^[6]

At the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles, Cantú qualified to the final segment and finished in 24th place.^[3]

Her programs were choreographed by David Wilson, Mark Hird, Shawn Sawyer and herself. During her last international season as a single skater, she returned to be coached by Vladimir Petrenko^[1] at the International Skating Center of Connecticut, in Simsbury.

Cantú and her sister founded, competed with, and coached the first Mexican synchronized skating team, known as Merging Edge. The team represented Mexico at the 2013 World Synchronized Skating Championships and continued to compete through 2016. Cantú served as both coach and skater at those championships, along with second coach Donna Mitchell. There were no other Mexican teams to compete against, so they won an invitation to the World Championships by performing exhibitions at various events, which were watched by representatives of the International Skating Union (ISU).^[7][8]

At the 2016 World Synchronized Skating Championships, the Mexican team executed three double axels within the creative element of the free program; Cantú was one of the athletes who performed the jump.^[8]

Cantú is the creator of a sit spin variation. After review in competition, the variation was recognized as a difficult sit spin under ISU criteria, and an image of the variation was later included in the ISU Technical Panel Handbook – Single Skating.^[9]