Galindo won the men's junior world championship in 1987 . Then he gave up the individual run for a short time to start in pair skating with Kristi Yamaguchi . With her he also won the Junior World Championship in Figure Skating for Sports Couples in 1988 and the US Championships for Sports Couples in 1989 and 1990. The World Championships in 1989 and 1990 they finished in fifth place. His pair skating career ended with the separation from Kristi Yamaguchi in 1990. He then concentrated again on the individual run. In 1996, in front of a home crowd at the San Jose Arena , Rudy Galindo became the US champion , the oldest in the past 50 years. At the world championship in the same year he celebrated his greatest success by winning the bronze medal behind Todd Eldredge and Ilja Kulik .
As a result, Galindo ended his amateur career in the summer of 1996 . After he was diagnosed with HIV and recovered from his hip injury, he continued his professional career on the Tom Collins Tour Champions on Ice.