Understanding the Sport of Inline Speed Skating

"...it's impossible to describe the incredible feeling that comes from being in the midst of a seething pack of humanity all straining to their utmost to succeed. The mass start of an inline skating race is a riotous display of colour and sound. Skates clash and bodies are thrown against one another as each skater surges forwards off the line. And then as suddenly as the chaos starts, order ensues. Skaters flow together as one, while each team strains to go faster, faster, faster still..." 

May 2002 journal entry, written by M. Buisson
2002 Pan American Championships; Cartegena, Colombia

Is an inline speed skater the same thing as a really fast 'Rollerblader'?

In one word, NO!!! Inline speed skating is a sport in which people race while wearing inline speed skates. Rollerblade is a company that manufactures inline skates. Calling every inline skater a rollerblader is the verbal equivalent of saying everyone who drives a car should be called a "Ford-er", "GMC-er" or "Chrysler"!

Top inline speed skaters routinely attain speeds of over 40km/hour. Although the fastest speed ever recorded for a solo inline skater is 101km/hour (63 miles/hour) by Doug Lucht in 1998, this speed is not the fastest speed ever attained on skates. By racing in packs in order to reduce wind resistance, countless inline speed skaters attain race speeds of over 100km/hour (60 miles/hour)!

"Ohhhh... So you're a speed skater like Catriona (Le May Doan)!!!"

Despite their mutual attraction of high speeds on skates, inline and ice speed skating are two very different sports. The sport of inline speed skating differs from ice speed skating in several key aspects, including technique, tactics, physical contact, race distances, and worldwide participation levels.

The stereotypic portrayal of a long track ice speed skater is that of an athlete with a leg fully extended out to the side, taking huge strides while gliding down the ice. Few inline skaters use this technique, as the increased friction of racing on asphalt negates the benefit of a long glide phase. If an inline skater tried to maintain as long a glide phase as her ice counterpart, the force of friction upon her wheels would actually cause the inline skater to slow down! Due to having to maintain a higher leg tempo, most inline skaters subsequently also "sit" in a basic skating position higher than that of most ice sprinters.

Incidentally, those words - "ice sprinters" - illustrates another crucial difference between inline and ice skaters. When racing upon ice, skaters tend to focus on either sprint (i.e. 1500m or less) or distance (greater than 1500m) events. Inline speed skaters, however, must master skills necessary to race everything from a 300m individual time trial to full marathons of 42.4 km and beyond. When competing in the World Championships, inline speed skaters race the following distances: 300m, 500m, 1000m, 5000m, 10000m points and elimination, 20000m elimination. The skater's overall placement in the individual time trial determines where he is placed in all subsequent heats and mass start events. So, even if a skater excels at distance events, he still has to have a strong time trial to remain in contention for a good starting position.

Why the emphasis on starting position? This is one of the most important differences between inline and ice skating. In long track ice competitions, skaters race either Olympic style - two skaters pitted one against the other - or mass start. Short track ice competitions are all mass start events. With the exception of the individual time trial, all inline skating sprint events (1000m or less) involve heats to eliminate skaters down to the final six racers. In distance races however (5000m or greater), all inline skating races are mass start. To an ice skater, "mass start" means 4 to 8 skaters on the start line. To an inline skater, "mass start" can mean anything from over 40 skaters on a 200m track with a five meter width (as was the case in the Senior Women category at the 2002 World Championships), up to several thousand skaters surging off the start line in some of the world's largest inline skating events!

In reality, inline speed skating shares more similarities with track cycling than it does with ice speed skating. Like track cyclists, inline speed skaters become masters of deception, exceptional tacticians, and honed athletes capable of racing long distances at high speeds while incorporating frequent tempo changes, maximum effort surges, and the ability to recover at race pace. These abilities become instinctual for elite inline skaters, as they are generally performed at speeds surpassing 40km/hour in large packs of skaters staying as close to one another as possible to decrease wind resistance.

An inline skater's ability to handle tempo changes while maintaining good position in the pack is best evaluated by the 10000m points and elimination event. In a points race, the first person to cross the line after the last lap may not necessarily be the winner. Instead, points are allotted following set "sprint laps" occurring every 3-5 laps of the track. This race is inevitably a favorite for inline race spectators, as each point lap brings skaters to the line in a full out sprint, with the first and last skater in the field often separated by mere fractions of a second. In a points lap, the first couple of skaters across the line receive points based on their position in the pack. The last skater to cross the line however, gets eliminated from the race. One by one, skaters are pulled from the race until only six remain. These six then battle for the remaining points laps and, ultimately, the overall title.

With its high speeds, tight packs, and fiercely competitive athletes, crashes are an all-too-familiar aspect of life for inline speed skaters. It is not uncommon then, to see inline skaters perform seemingly impossible feats of athleticism, coordination, and grace to avoid mass pile-ups. The ability to leap downed skaters in a single bound is one few inline skaters take for granted!

On ice, speed skaters adhere to a strictly enforced code forbidding any physical contact. In contrast, physical contact frequently occurs in inline speed skating as skaters are permitted to place their hands lightly upon other skaters when necessary to maintain a distance between each other within a pack. Skaters are also often seen using their arms to prevent other skaters from forcing their way into the pack. Staying on one's feet despite the accidental kicks, punches and other inevitable body contact within a tight pack is simply a part of inline racing.

Inline Skating: North America's fastest growing recreational activity

In the past twenty years, inline skating has exploded onto the Canadian fitness scene as one of the Canada's fastest growing recreational activities. According to the 2001 Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association of Canada market research, sales of inline skates from 1996 to 2001 averaged over $447 million per year. Close to 3.2 million Canadians currently participate in inline skating, a figure far surpassing levels of participation in other popular sports such as golf, baseball, tennis, bowling, and downhill skiing. As of 2001, 22-25% of all American households own inline skates, with 62% of participants between the ages of 7 to 17 years old.

Inline Speed Skating: Global popularity

Despite the popularity of recreational inline skating in Canada, inline speed skating is still relatively new. This is in sharp contrast to many other regions of the world where inline speed skating has been a longtime fixture. Currently, inline speed skating occurs in over seventy countries on six separate continents. In the USA alone, the number of registered inline speed skaters is five times that of registered ice speed skaters!

In contrast to inline speed skating's global popularity, only 57 countries worldwide engage in ice speed skating. The vast major of these countries are in the northern hemisphere, although in recent years, southern hemisphere countries such as Australia have started sending short track speed skaters to the Winter Olympics.

The first Roller Skating World Championships occurred in 1937, with skaters racing upon traditional "quad" skates. Quad skates continued to be popular up until 1992, the first year that inline skates were accepted for use in international competition. Now, inline speed skates have all but obliterated the use of the much slower quad skates. In addition to the World Championships, inline speed skaters can race in the Pan American, European, Asian or Oceanic Games depending on their National Team designation. Inline Speed Skating also has its own World Cup Circuit. In the 2002 racing season, thirteen pro teams - each with 10-15 members - raced full-time on the Inline World Cup circuit. North America's premier World Cup event, the Northshore Inline Skating Marathon, draws over 6000 skaters each year. Major European events routinely surpass 5000 skaters. With favorable talks occurring between the International Federation of Roller Skating (FIRS) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it is anticipated that inline speed skating will soon become an Olympic sport.

Cited References

• Canadian Government Working Task Force. Trends Research for Youth and the Military Project. www.lin.ca/lin/resource/html.ac715.pdf  July 22, 2003

• FIRS World Inline Cup. Iguana Think Tank AG; Challenboden 4a; CH-8834; Schindellegi, Switzerland. www.world-inline-cup.com  Internet. July 22, 2003

• Guinness World Records. Steward Newport, Keeper of the Records. www.recordholders.org  Internet. July 22, 2003

• International Federation of Roller Sports. www.rollersports.org  Internet. July 22, 2003.

• International Skating Union. www.isu.com  Internet. July 31, 2003

• Speed Skating Canada. www.speedskating.ca  internet and phone correspondence. 2781 Lancaster Road, Suite 402; Ottawa, Ontario; K1B 1A7. July 2003