- [Announcer] Tracks now clear at skeleton start for Deyvid Morales.

- [Liz] It's okay.

You can ask.

- [Crowd cheering] Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

- [Liz] How in the world did Deyvid Morales, - [Announcer] Sled in track, sled in track.

- [Liz] Wind up here?

- Like instead of being on a seat in the car, going 80 miles per hour just imagine yourself being [WHOOSH] at the level of a tire... [Sled scraping ice] and your chin just kind of like touching the ground, swerving, going up, G-forces.

- [Liz] As a professional skeleton slider, he's used to diving headfirst down a mile of ice.

- [Deyvid] On a sled, which I compare it to kind of like a lunch tray.

[crunch of ice] - [Liz] That tray goes so fast, [WHOOSH] it hits curves at nearly 93 miles per hour.

Say hello, now goodbye, to G-Forces.

These curves come with pressure that can make you feel about five times your body weight.

- I guess the first goal is not to die.

- I'm Liz Adeola, and "This Is Utah," the place where skeleton sliding was reintegrated into the Olympic program after it was gone for more than 50 years.

We'll take you on a ride down the track from the vantage point of athletes who conquer the threat of death at every turn.

[SCREAM] But the sport isn't called skeleton sliding because of the danger.

It's believed to have come from the sled's bony, stripped down appearance that looks like, well, a skeleton.

Today's athletes use a skeleton sled, like this one right here.

It's 80 pounds!

But there's so much more to learn about the delicate balance of physics and faith that athletes like Deyvid use to conquer their fears while only wearing an aerodynamic suit and a helmet for protection.

We'd like to give a special thanks to our sponsors.

(bright music) - [Deyvid] This track is the one with the highest elevation in the world, and so our ice is very different.

It gets pretty nerve-wracking just looking at it.

Uh, just knowing that, like, the snow is covering it and I can't even see the bottom of it, but I know I'll be down there.

And also when I'm down there, I look up and I see how big it is.

But I think conquering mountains is not just about the physical ones, but also with the mental ones and the spiritual ones and the financial ones and every mountain that you have in your life, you have to conquer it.

So this is kind of like my weekly exercise of conquering the mountain.

[sharp ripping] - [Liz] Deyvid Morales' goal is to become an Olympic skeleton athlete, his uniform and helmet inspired by that of the Luchador, or Mexican professional wrestler.

- [Deyvid] When your body's like up in a wall, it does feel like you're a superhero.

- [Liz] It's one way he pays homage to the country where he was born, the country he wants to represent on the world stage, Mexico.

- I had a very big crash last month, and it just ripped it off.

I went up a wall really high and then I crashed into the cement.

- [Liz] This is his backup suit, and his sled is one that isn't really formatted for his body.

- [Deyvid] The sled, it was about $6,000.

But if you want a sled that's made for you, which you should, it's about like 10,000, $12,000.

It takes a lot to have your dreams become a reality.

- Let's talk about the Olympics and the journey, the path to get there.

- [Deyvid] I reached out to many athletes, including the ones that have represented Mexico in the past and I didn't hear back from anybody.

I reached out to the Mexican Olympic Committee through emails, I even went to visit them in Mexico, but I didn't get any response.

That was discouraging until I met Akwasi.

- My name is Akwasi Frimpong, Ghana's first skeleton Olympian, first black person male in the sport of skeleton to compete at the Olympic Games.

First black male skeleton Olympian from Africa out of 1.4 billion people.

[Liz]- So when you get an email asking for advice on how to get started in this, what do you say?

- Well, first of all, when I see a message like that, I'm like, "I'm doing something right," which basically means being able to showcase what it means to go after your goals and dreams, regardless of your background, your circumstances.

- [Deyvid] Years ago, I I saw him make his Olympic dream come true, and he was my inspiration to compete in this sport.

- [Akwasi] Deyvid is an incredible, young man who's very passionate, a super hardworking guy, who always trying to figure out to make things happen, regardless of the circumstances.

Something that I have always, you know, done as well, fought for, ah my goals and dreams is something he's doing, and it's great just to see that after so many years, with the lack of, you know, like I said funding, coaching, all of these different things that are super hard, that he's still pushing through.

He's very resilient.

- [Liz] Akwasi made sure Deyvid locked in with the right officials to get on track, to sliding as a professional athlete.

- There's a lot of the athletes that I now work with, you know, they're like, "Yeah, I wanted to be an Olympian since I was five years old," or, "I saw it on TV when I was a little kid."

But that's not me.

- [Liz] Deyvid's parents brought him to the US when he was just nine years old.

- Hey everyone, this is Deyvid Morales from DACA Scholars.

I just wanted to give you an update about two main issues that happened this week.

- [Liz] He's faced deportation four times.

- [Deyvid] I was on my way to this Bible college that I was going to study for two years, and I was just 45 minutes away, and all of a sudden now I'm in, in a prison.

I was upset.

It's one of those like, why God moments, even though I try to be as grateful as I could be, even in those dark times.

- [Liz] And all four times, he beat the case, securing his green card through DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.

It's a fight that left him with crippling anxiety while also sparking a desire within him to overcome the impossible and help other people do the same.

- [Deyvid] It wasn't until I got my green card that I was able to expand my dreams and think of things that I could do to not only challenge myself, but as well to represent my people.

I've struggled with a lot of anxiety in the last couple of years.

I think going through my legal battles with deportation in my past couple of years also, the current situation with immigration trying to deny, even though I'm a green card holder now, there's still, you know, a possibility that me or my family could face deportation, and we don't have these tracks in Mexico.

You know, this is the only place that I could come like, train in.

This is my home.

I don't wanna be away from this track.

Also, the financial part of the sport, every time we slide, it's about $100 for a day, so it does add up, and especially not counting with any support from your country.

It's very difficult, so I have to rely on local sponsors.

- [Liz] At age 33, Deyvid says he's given his all over the last few years to make sure Mexico has representation in the skeleton competition.

- [Skeleton Slider] How was it?

- [Deyvid] Um, Not that good.

- [Skeleton Athlete] That's okay.

- [Deyvid] Yeah, I was expecting better but I I crashed like, five times.

- [Liz] When he's not on the track, you can find Deyvid here, running a digital marketing company.

- [Deyvid] Even my closest friends don't know that I, lived in my office for a whole, almost like half of the year, because we were saving up for skeleton.

- [Liz] That's five people in this space: Deyvid, his wife, and three kids.

- [Akwasi] It's not just strength and speed.

It's a sport where there's a lot more involved than just being talented.

There's lack of funding.

There is the coaching aspect.

There is the lack of track knowledge because knowing one track does not mean you know all the 17 tracks in the world.

So being patient and taking time to learn is the best way.

- [Liz] No matter how late in life you start, it's a valuable lesson Deyvid now shares whenever he visits classrooms, letting kids from all walks of life know they could become skeleton sliders too.

- [Deyvid] I think once you realize that you're an undocumented immigrant, your dreams have a ceiling, you know, they have like a cap on them, especially coming as an immigrant child.

When you're told that you're never going to leave the US, you know, like we came here as undocumented immigrants and we can't leave.

You can't go back and visit your family.

You can't travel the world.

We call it la jaula dorada, which means like the golden cage.

You are in a golden place, but you're still in the cage.

And so that's how immigrants describe, USA to a lot of us.

That's how we feel.

That, yeah it's pretty but we can't leave it.

I don't want the anxiety to win.

I thought medication would help, and it did in a sense.

I thought therapy would help, and it did in a sense.

But I think I want to face it straight on.

And I think doing that sport is like one of the [Laughs] of the craziest ways to deal with anxiety.

[scrape of sled on ice] Because when we go down the sled, we have to be super relaxed, super calm.

- [Liz] How do you get in the right mindset?

- [Deyvid] I do say a prayer before I slide, and I just hope that God controls and I give him control of my sled, you know, kind of like God take the wheel, but God take the sled.

[peaceful music] Sometimes I do just like to pretend I'm singing gospel music and gospel songs.

I just try to relax and try to sing as I go, but there is times where, you know, like I might be in the middle of a prayer and then the F-word might come out and then it goes back to prayer, so.

- [Liz] I've heard of it, cussing Christians.

I've never heard of it before.

- Yeah.

[CLATTER] [click] This is like a mile long of a track and we go down in 50 seconds.

[whoosh] There's not a lot of time to think, but if I think ahead, then that kind of gets me overwhelmed sometimes.

[LOUD CLATTER] I'm try not to panic, but it was a big hit that hit my head, kind of.

And uh, and that kind of like, just threw me off.

- [Liz] But he got back up and tried again.

- [Skeleton Slider] That's why they gave us two, right?

- [Deyvid] Huh?

Yeah.

- [Skeleton Slider] That's why they give us two.

There's a lot of times where it seems like almost impossible to, to complete this dream.

It is pretty nerve-racking.

It is pretty exciting.

It is... I love it, but I also - it's like, it's like a love-hate relationship.

[scrape of sled on ice When you dream and you, and your dream is almost impossible, and it's not really, like it is up to you, but you also have to rely on something bigger than yourself because the dream is bigger than yourself.

I think that's what puts me in a better, closer relationship with God is always doing things that are impossible and knowing that without Him, I can't do it.

I think just being able to make it to the team and, and be considered a professional athlete is something that I never thought I would do.

(swelling music) And just seeing like my kids' face and and other kids' like face light up and be like, "Oh, that's your dad," you know so.

I think I, I, like I just wanna make my kids proud.

Proud.

I want my kids to know that um, their dreams are possible, that as, as crazy as it could be that there is a lot of sacrifices that have to take place.

But I, I really do want to show my kids that that you can have crazy dreams and they can come true.

(music ending with clash of cymbals) - We wish Deyvid all the best on his journey.

And speaking of journeys, we are working on so many new stories for "This Is Utah," and we want you to be one of the first to check them out.

Be sure to hit subscribe and that notification bell so you never miss out on one of our adventures.

(steady music) (bright music)