At the age of seventeen, he ran a national junior record of 20.24 seconds for the 200 metres that year and also ran a 100 metres best of 10.31 seconds. This represented a significant improvement upon his 2008 best of 21.65 seconds and led to athletics statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava identifying him as one of the world's most promising sprinters. Skyers began competing internationally in 2009, making his debut at the ALBA Games, where he claimed the 200 m title. He ran in the Cuban 4×100 metres relay team at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics, but the quartet failed to finish the race. He claimed the 200 m national title at the Barrientos Memorial in June.