Marina Malpica

Marina Malpica (born 4 January 2000) is a Mexican rhythmic gymnast. She is the first gymnast from Mexico to qualify for a final at the World Championships.

Personal life
She is studying at National University of Costa Rica in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Career
She took up the sport at age five in Veracruz.

2014
As a junior, Malpica competed at the 2014 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in April. She placed 7th in the all-around and qualified to all four event finals. In May, she competed at the Junior Pan American Championships. As a member of the Mexican team, she contributed to the team silver medal, and she finished 6th in the all-around.

2016
Malpica debuted in senior international competition at the 2016 Pan American Championships, where she won bronze in the all-around behind Natália Gaudio and Karla Diaz. In the apparatus finals, she won silver with clubs and bronze with ball.

2017
Malpica again competed at the 2017 Pan American Championships, where she won silver in teams and bronze in the all-around. In the apparatus finals, she was 4th with hoop, 4th with ball, 7th with clubs and 7th with ribbon. In August, she performed at her first World Championships in Pesaro, finishing 49th in the all-around, 38th with hoop, 48th with ball, 68th with clubs and 39th with ribbon.

2018
In 2018 Malpica participated in the World Cup stages in Guadalajara. She took 28th place in the all-around and 25th with hoop, 35th with ball, 35th with clubs, 29th with ribbon. At the World Cup in Kazan, she placed 22nd in the all-around. She was then selected for the Central American and Caribbean Games, where she won gold with hoop and ball and silver in the all-around and with clubs.

In September, she competed at the World Championships in Sofia, where she was 18th in teams with Karla Diaz and Rut Castillo. Individually, she was 68th in the all-around, 56th with hoop, 105th with ball and 50th with clubs. Later that months, she also competed in the Pan American Championships in Lima. There she won silver in the all-around behind Laura Zeng and bronze with hoop behind Zeng and Lili Mizuno.

2019
Malpica competed in the World Cups in Guadalajara (29th in the all-around, 28th with hoop, 26th with ball, 31st with clubs and 29th with ribbon) and Tashkent (26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 24th with ball, 32nd with clubs and 25th with ribbon). At the World Championships in Baku, she only performed with ribbon. She was 58th place with the apparatus and 25th in the team competition.

2021
Malpica was again selected for the Mexican team that took part at the World Championships in Kitakyushu. She contributed to Mexico's team score on two apparatuses, ball and clubs, which ranked 30th and 40th respectively.

2022
Marina started her 2022 season at the World Cup in Portimão, where she finished 26th in the all-around, 31st with hoop, 36th with ball, 17th with clubs, and 19th with ribbon. A few days later, she was in Pesaro for another World Cup where she ranked 26th in the all-around, 27th with hoop, 29th with ball, 20th with clubs, and 32nd with ribbon.

In July, she performed at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships, where was 5th in the all-around and won gold with hoop and bronze with ribbon. In August, she competed at the last World Cup of the season in Cluj-Napoca, ending 26th in the all-around, 17th with hoop, 22nd with ball, 36th with clubs, and 15th with ribbon. She made history at the World Championships in Sofia by qualifying for the all-around final, becoming the first individual from Mexico qualify for a final at the tournament, and ending in 14th place.

2023
Malpica qualified to the ribbon final at Baku World Cup and finished in 8th place. In early June, she won the ball final at the Pan American Championships and finished 6th in the all-around. In late June, she competed at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, where she won five golds and a silver - a gold in the team event with Ledia Juárez, Karla Diaz, and the senior group, and every individual final except for the clubs final, where she was silver behind Juárez.

She represented Mexico at the 2023 World Championships in Valencia, Spain; she finished in 29th place in the all-around qualifications and did not qualify to the final. Her best result was 13th place with ribbon.

In November, she competed at the 2023 Pan American Games. There was one Olympic berth available at the competition, which Malpica narrowly lost to Evita Griskenas. She ended the all-around in 4th place. Although she had qualified for all four event finals, she did not medal in any of them, which were dominated by the Brazilian gymnasts. Malpica made comments on her social media criticizing the Brazilian gymnasts and accusing the judges of bias based on nationality. She later apologized to the Brazilian gymnasts and deleted her comments, but she did not take back her comments about the judges.

2024
Malpica competed at the 2024 World Cup in Sofia, where she placed 30th. At the 2024 Pan American Championships in Guatemala City, she won bronze in the ribbon final behind Maria Eduarda Alexandre and Bárbara Domingos.

Achievements

 * First Mexican rhythmic gymnast to qualify for a World Championships final when she participated in the 2022 edition of the tournament in Sofia.