Darío Villalba

Darío Villalba was born in San Sebastián but learned to skate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where his father served as the Spanish consul. On his return to Spain at age 14, the Spanish rinks were small and of poor quality, so his parents sent him to train in Chamonix, France with a German coach, Thea Frenssen. Villalba competed at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics and the 1956 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Villalba is best known not for his skating but as a painter and photographer. For his work, he received the National Fine Arts Award and the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts, and was a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.