Freestyle slalom skating

Freestyle slalom skating is a highly technical field of roller skating that involves performing tricks around a straight line of equally spaced cones. The most common spacing used in competitions is 80 centimetres (31 in), with larger competitions also featuring lines spaced at 50 centimetres (20 in) and 120 centimetres (47 in).^[1]

Freestyle skaters in action at Les Invalides, Paris

Equipment

Most freestyle slalomers use inline skates, although some use quad skates. Those who use inline skates tend to use a full rocker wheel configuration, however there are other variations of the rocker set-up which are used. Some skaters prefer to use a 'full hi-lo' rocker, which means the largest wheel is the second in from the back, with the smallest at the front. A common way to rocker your wheels is by putting larger wheels in the center and smaller wheels on each end. An example of this is having 80 mm wheels in the 2nd and 3rd position and 76 mm in the front and back. A short frame (230–245 mm) is used to give the skate the maximum possible maneuverability. Inline skates used for slalom have a very tight fit with a strong cuff, to give sustained ankle support. Popular skates used in the past include the FSK skate range by Salomon, now unavailable.

List of slalom moves

The list of basic moves from easiest to hardest. There are many more moves than the ones shown in the list, and many variations on how to complete each move. The names of these moves may differ between countries.

Basic

Forwards Parallel (Fish)
Forwards Monoline (Snake)
Forwards Criss-Cross
Alternating Forwards Cross
Double Cross
Forwards One Foot

Beginner

Backwards Monoline (Snake)
Backwards Criss-Cross
Backwards Parallel (Fish)
Forwards Heel-Toe Snake
Forwards Heel-Toe Criss-Cross
Forwards Toe-Toe Snake
Forwards Heel-Heel Snake
Forwards Shifted Cross
Backwards Shifted Cross
Eagle
Eagle Cross (Independent)
Eagle Shifted Cross (Wave)
Eagle Royal
Eagle Royal Cross
Reverse Eagle
Reverse Eagle Criss-Cross
Reverse Eagle Shifted Cross
Fake Side-Surf

Intermediate

Crazy
Grapevine (Mabrouk)
Double Crazy
Double Crazy Back
Forwards Stroll
Backwards Stroll
Backwards One Foot
Chapi Chapo
X
X 2
X Jump (Crab Cross)
Nelson
Nelson Back
Nelson Transfer Back (X-Back)
Sun
Miniman (Small car 5 Wheels Sitting)
Pendulum

Advanced

Alternating Cross
Crazy Sun
Mexican
Italian
Volte
Wiper
Footspin
Special
Oliver
Brush
Chicken Leg
Cobra
Butterfly

Master

Rocket (Coffee Machine)
Backwards Rocket
Christie
Kasatchok
Toe Wheeling
Grabbed Toe Wheeling
Heel Wheeling
Grabbed Heel Wheeling
Screw
Leaf
Swan
Deckchair (Corvo)

Instruction

Both the ICP and Skate IA offer slalom instructor certification programs which develop the ability of skaters and coaches in breaking down slalom tricks. They also expand instructors' ability in identifying and solving problems in slalom skating.

Competitions

The World Slalom Series Association (WSSA) organised the first World Championships in inline freestyle in 2008.^[2] The competition has been held annually since then and in 2015, World Skate recognized it as an official world championships from the organization, known as the Inline Freestyle World Championship.^[3] This competition has been part of the World Skate Games since 2017.

WSSA still organizes all other major calendar competitions in inline freestyle, including the World Cup.^[4]

References

^ "World Ranking Rules".
^ "First WSSA World Championships in Singapore". Retrieved 14 September 2022.
^ "Inline Freestyle World Championships results". Retrieved 14 September 2022.
^ "2022 WSSA events". Retrieved 14 September 2022.

External links

[WSSA_rules-1] "World Ranking Rules".

[2] "First WSSA World Championships in Singapore". Retrieved 14 September 2022.

[3] "Inline Freestyle World Championships results". Retrieved 14 September 2022.

[4] "2022 WSSA events". Retrieved 14 September 2022.

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