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Hannover Inline Games 2008by Phil and JB
Thanks to J&R Sports, the UK Seba skates distributor, its sponsored riders enjoyed a trip to Hannover from 1st to the 3rd of August, to take part in the 2008 Inline Games. On the trip were Jon Bell (JB) and Phil Downer. We were without Naomi Grigg due to her being off teaching slalom in some exotic part of the world. The event, which is in its second year, included a large number of skate-related activities such as street skates, speed skating, aggressive skating, and of course style slalom and speed slalom. But more on that later…
SaturdaySaturday, which was supposed to be a relaxed day of qualifications, started with speed slalom. For those of you who don’t know, this involves the rider starting 12 metres from a set of 20 cones, spaced 80cm apart, with the aim to get from the start to the end of the cones, having slalomed them all, in the quickest time possible. The best of the best can do this in just under 5seconds. Unfortunately, both of us hit a few too many cones to get anywhere near that time (you suffer a 0.2s penalty for each cone hit) so we didn’t make it through the qualification into the final 16. Those who did would then have the opportunity to compete on the Sunday in a knock-out competition to see who would be crowned as champion. Next to take place was the Amateur Freestyle Battle. The top two riders would get themselves a spot in the Pro Freestyle Battle. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of this, as we were warming up for the Men’s Pro Freestyle Battle which was to take place straight after. Due to poor weather reports for the Sunday, the organisers took the decision to get as much of the competition done on the Saturday in case rain ended up stopping play at some point. So, what was meant to be a quite relaxed day ended up very full, and not finishing until gone 10pm. Battle slalom rules are quite simple. Three or four sets of cones, spaced at 50cm, 80cm and 120cm. You compete against 3 other people. You have 3 runs of 30seconds each, during which you have to do tricks around the cones. You’re marked on technique, style and originality, and the top two skaters will then progress through to the next round, until there is a final of four skaters. In the final, the skaters get the usual 3 runs of 30seconds, but they also get to do a ‘last trick’. This is their final chance to wow the judges, and show why they should be put in the number 1 spot. For those who want a bit more detail, the complete rules can be found here: http://www.worldslalomseries.com/battle.htm There were 32 skaters in all, and as already said, the big names were in attendance. This, along with the presence of some very good skaters new to the competition scene, meant that getting through the first round, let alone into the semi-finals and final, would be extremely tough. Sadly, both of us fell foul of this. JB got knocked out by Christian Fessel (winner of the Monchen-Gladbach skate competition in February) and Ronny Robert (an old-school winner of the Dutch 2003 title). Phil had the pleasure of losing to Kim Taehong (a Korean living in London at the time) and Tim Schraepen (a quickly improving Belgium skater). We were, however, in good company, with Tiziano Ferrari, a beautifully stylish skater from Italy, and winner of 3rd place at the Paris Slalom World Cup, being knocked out in the first round. Whist it was disappointing to come so far and get knocked out so early, it gave us the opportunity of watching some fantastic skating. By the time the final started, the large tiered seating areas were full of spectators and the DJ was in full swing playing a variety of disco classics to keep the party atmosphere going. The final, was made up of Rudy (world number 5), Igor (world number 1), Luca Uliviero (the number 1 Italian) and Martin Sloboda (a precocious 13-year-old who would seemingly be as happy only having one wheel on his skate instead of four, with the amount of wheeling tricks that he does). Rudy and Igor were vying for the champion spot, pulling out a variety of very technical one-wheel tricks, two-wheel crossed leg spins and transitions, with Rudy having the upper hand in the ‘style’ column. Martin also joined in the one-wheel fun, with forward to backward heel wheeling, one-heel spins and one-toe spins galore. However, he could not compete with the variety of technical tricks being shown by Rudy and Igor. Luca, on the other hand, relied on his speed of execution and mastery of sitting tricks to try to get on to the podium. In the end, Rudy managed to clinch the top spot, handing Igor a very rare defeat and the second place on the podium. Luca snuck into the 3rd position, leaving Martin in 4th place. All in all it was a very exciting final. A video of the final can be found here:
After the men’s final, it was time for the women’s competition. As previously said, due to the impending bad weather, organisers were trying to get as much done on the Saturday as possible, which meant that by the time the final was started, it was already dark! There were only 12 women entered, meaning a much shorter competition, with only a first round, semi-final and final. The final again had the big names, with Chloe, Polina, Fanny and Lidia Wardzinska all vying for the podium in some very difficult conditions. In the end Polina beat Chloe to the number one position, with Fanny taking the final podium place. Their final is here:
After a very long day of competitions, we all took a well deserved break, with the UK contingent heading off for Mexican food. We also bumped into a certain French skater (who shall remain nameless) who was out on a date with a rather attractive blonde girl!
After the speed finals, the beautiful weather and free timetable meant that an ad-hoc team battle contest was organised. The rules were the same as a normal battle competition, except that you were in a team of three (each person having one run), and had to compete against another team of three. I’m sure there were probably other rules to start with, but these soon went out the window, with skaters soon doing runs in twos and threes. This competition seemed to be less about who skated the best, and more who could get the most laughs and cheers from the crowd. Sadly our team ‘Phil and the JBs’, which got to the semi finals, had to make a swift exit to catch a plane back to London. Otherwise I’m sure we’d have been standing on the top of the podium at the end of the day… Phil & JB
LinksJ & R Sports - Seba skate distributors in the UK. SkateFreestyle.com - Naomi Grigg's slalom website
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