FIRS and the ISU Joining Forces

FIRS and the ISU Joining Forces: FIRS and the ISU made an announcement earlier today that the two federations will join forces and will host a combination roller-ice speed world championship in two years time.

The ground-breaking announcement was made earlier today at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo is one of 12 cities that have been selected as future sites for new indoor combination 400-meter ice & 200-meter inline tracks.

The other cities to house tracks within the next two years include the Canadian cities of Edmonton, Downsview, Ottawa, and Mississauga as well as Rennes (France), Sioux Falls (USA), Bogota (Colombia), Venice (Italy), Mumbai (India), Guangzhou (China), and Havana (Cuba).

This project has been years in the making and although many industry insiders have been aware of the plan, it comes as a surprise to the everyday skater. Adrien Almeralla from Michigan was on hand for the announcement, and he said ‘this is great for us who love both ice and inline racing’.

The format of the races will feature skaters earning points in ice races, roller races, and then combining the total points to determine winners. There is even some talk about skaters going head-to-head on wheels and blades. Few details have been made public, but a source from one of the governing bodies says that the details on the points system is still being worked on.


Can you imagine? Roller and ice skaters going head-to-head and racing with each other all the time? The best of both the steel and polyurethane worlds!
Reactions through out the skating world have been mostly positive. Most clubs are enthusiastic about the idea of a combination ice and roller world championship. Half a dozen ice and roller club presidents and board members who were part of the negotiations between the two federations were excited at the prospect of their clubs exploring a new part of speed skating.

The top-brass at the ISU and FIRS have taken the unprecedented step of eliminating their own respective world championships once the combination event is implemented. The goal, according to Guido Begg, it to ‘combine the forces of the two sports and of the two governing bodies into one world power, one governing body for a sport that can now rival the likes of soccer, cricket, and ice hockey all at the same time. With the advent of new formats for races and television deals, things are sure to be exciting for the speed skating fans.

Many coaches have reacted positively to the change. The general feeling, according to Paul Dunn, one of Sri Lanka’s top coaches, is that the coaches and their associations will have two years to become familiar with the race dynamics and the technical subtleties that ice and inline have to offer. The consensus is that the coaching organizations will have time to adapt their practice in time for the events.

The most disputed ruling in the deal between the governing bodies is that all speed events that fall under the FIRS and ISU umbrella will have to have an inline and and ice component. The ruling of mandatory ice and roller races being held within the same event has fractured some circles in the industry, especially within the race organizer circles. Some feel that to make their event both ice and roller, they will have to put in more resources and person power than they can find.

However, the world inline cup relishes in the challenge and is up to the task of making the circuit work for roller and ice at the same time. The marathon race series organizers believe that they can hold the world inline cup both on ice and pavement and they even said that they could perhaps have skaters on ice and on rollers racing beside each other, head to head. The optimism that the world inline cup organizers hold is encouraging, especially considering the fact that new technologies will have to be created so that pavement can be ‘iced’ in the summer time for the ice blades.

Throughout the whole decision making process, athletes have held advisory positions and they have had a lot of input. The most important decision for the athletes was when the season should take place? Having the season take place during the summer time would favour the roller skaters while the winter season would favour the ice skaters. It was decided that the competitive season would be in the spring. The weather is nice in the spring.

Perhaps the most important outcome of the decision will affect the position of speed skating in the Olympics. The Olympics will essentially be forced to have inline skating in their winter program. Furthermore, having ice and inline gives the racers a chance to double dip once roller skating gets into the Olympics. The winter Olympiad will feature the roller and ice, and once roller skating is accepted into the summer Olympiad as a stand alone sport, the summer Olympiad will have to follow suite in include ice skating. Happy April Fool's day by the way.