Laura Barquero

Barquero/Cónsul at the2020 European Championships
Personal information
Full name	Laura Barquero Jiménez
Born	(2001-10-12)12 October 2001 (age 24) Madrid, Spain
Height	1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Spain
Coach	Barbara Luoni Franca Bianconi Rosana Murante
Skating club	Sport Hielo Madrid
Began skating	2009

Laura Barquero Jiménez (born 12 October 2001) is a Spanishpair skater. With her former skating partner,Marco Zandron, she is the2021 Nebelhorn Trophy silver medalist and the2021 Spanish national champion.

With her former skating partner,Tòn Cónsul, she is the2020 Spanish national champion and competed in the final segment at the2020 European Championships. With her former skating partner,Aritz Maestu, she is the 2018Toruń Cup champion and 2018International Challenge Cup champion and competed for Spain at twoWorld Championships.

Barquero began learning to skate in 2009.^[1] As a single skater, she trained under Marta Senra and Ainhoa Gimeno inMadrid, Spain.^[2] She competed on the junior level. She received oneISU Junior Grand Prix assignment in September 2016.^[3]

Barquero's firstpair skating partner was Miguel Taranco.^[1] They made no international appearances together.

Barquero andAritz Maestu announced their partnership on 4 January 2017.^[4][5] They decided to train inBergamo, Italy, coached by Barbara Luoni andFranca Bianconi.^[4][6] During their first season together, the pair was ineligible for international competitions due to theISU's age requirements – Barquero was too young for senior events and Maestu too old for juniors.

Making their international debut, Barquero/Maestu placed seventh at the2017 CS Lombardia Trophy in mid-September. At the end of the month, they placed thirteenth at the2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, the finalqualifying opportunity for the 2018 Winter Olympics.^[7] Although their placement was not sufficient to qualify, Spain became the third alternate for a spot in the Olympic pairs' event.

In January, Barquero/Maestu placed eleventh at the2018 European Championships inMoscow, Russia. The following month, they won gold at theToruń Cup inToruń, Poland, and at theInternational Challenge Cup inThe Hague, Netherlands. They concluded the season at the2018 World Championships, in twentieth place.

Barquero/Maestu began the season with twoChallenger assignments, finishing fifth at the2018 CS Lombardia Trophy and eighth at the2018 CS Finlandia Trophy. Making theirGrand Prix debut with two assignments, they were seventh at the2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki and sixth at2018 NHK Trophy. They were seventh at the2019 European Championships after taking their second consecutive national title. Their final event together was the2019 World Championships, where they placed fifteenth.

On 31 May 2019 it was announced that Maestu had suffered an injury that would involve a prolonged recovery, and as a consequence of this, the team split.^[8]

In July 2019, Barquero teamed up withTòn Cónsul.^[9]

The team made their international debut at theDenis Ten Memorial Challenge, where they won the silver medal. They continued their season at the IceLab International Cup, where they won bronze. They were fourth at the2019 CS Warsaw Cup. Their last competition before Nationals was the2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they were eighth. At their first Spanish Nationals, they won their first National title.

They competed at the2020 European Championships, where they placed fourteenth. They went on to compete at theInternational Challenge Cup, where they placed ninth. They were named to the team for the2020 Worlds, but the competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10]

On 26 June 2020, it was announced that the pair had split after only one season together.^[11]

Barquero formed a new partnership with Italian pairs skaterMarco Zandron, and in January 2021, they were formally cleared to represent Spain.^[12] They won the Spanish national title in their first outing together but did not compete internationally during the season.^[13]

Barquero/Zandron made their international debut on theChallenger series at the2021 Lombardia Trophy. They were second in the short program and won the free skate, taking the silver medal overall and finishing less than four points behind Italian national championsDella Monica/Guarise.^[14] They were next assigned to the2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they attempted toqualify a berth for Spain at the2022 Winter Olympics. Third in the short program, they won the free skate despite two jump errors. They took the silver medal overall and the first of three pairs berths available at the event. This was the first time a Spanish pair qualified for the Winter Olympics. Barquero said she was "proud" of their work, while Zandron said he was confident that he would acquire Spanish citizenship in time to attend the Games.^[15] At their second Challenger, the2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, they placed sixth with new personal bests in both segments and overall.^[16]

Zandron obtained his Spanish citizenship on 29 December 2021, making the team eligible to represent Spain at the Winter Olympics.^[17] In the new year, they competed together at their firstEuropean Championships, finishing in ninth place.^[18] Competing at the2022 Winter Olympics in thepairs event, Barquero/Zandron were eleventh in the short program after receiving only a base level on their death spiral.^[19] They were eleventh in the free skate as well, and they finished eleventh overall.^[20]

In September 2022, Barquero was issued with a one-year competition ban backdated to February 2022 in relation to an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for unintentional use ofclostebol at the2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.^[21][22][23] Barquero said that the positive test result came from cross-contamination from a cream she did not use but which was stored in a drawer with other products.^[24]

Barquero and Zandron did not enter the2022 World Championships due to her suspension at the time.

Barquero and Zandron began preparing for the2023 World Championships toward the end of her suspension period; however, after a few days of training, she again tested positive for clostebol. Ahair test found that the most likely cause was again accidental contact with her skin rather than doping-related usage, but she was not able to find where the contamination came from.^[24]

In July, Zandron officially announced that he and Barquero had been "forced to end their partnership" after two seasons of not competing.^[25] While it was recognized that she did not have intentional contact with clostebol, she was given a six-year suspension ending in February 2028.^[24]

Media related toLaura Barquero at Wikimedia Commons

• Laura Barquero / Marco Zandron at theInternational Skating Union
• Laura Barquero / Ton Consul at theInternational Skating Union
• Laura Barquero / Aritz Maestu at theInternational Skating Union
• Laura Barquero at theInternational Skating Union
• Laura Barquero atOlympedia
• Laura Barquero atOlympics.com
• Laura Barquero Jiménez (andhere) at theComité Olímpico Español(in Spanish) (archived)

• 2001 births
• Living people
• Spanish female pair skaters
• Figure skaters from Madrid
• Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Spain
• Doping cases in figure skating
• Spanish sportspeople in doping cases
• 21st-century Spanish sportswomen

• Pages with reference errors
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• CS1 Italian-language sources (it)
• Pages with broken reference names
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• ISU figure skater ID different from Wikidata
• Articles with Spanish-language sources (es)
• COE template with two links