Road Skating
Road Skating (or Street Skating) is a sport in which athletes use either inline or roller skates and ride on road courses. It was a recreational activity that led the way for a competitive sport to be derived out of it. The sport is still mostly practiced at a recreational level, but there are also some competitive levels races conducted. Competitive races are similar to that of road cycling races, but skating races are of much lower speeds compared to cycling races.
Road Skating RaceThe course used for road skating consist mostly of flat and downhill regions. Both individual and team races are conducted for the sport.
Road skating competitions are usually long-distance races. Similar to cycling races, most races are individual races where athletes compete as a part of a team.
Athletes in a team work towards reducing the wind-resistance by alternatively taking turns to lead the group. While riding downhill, skiers are in a tucked position to reduce drag. Athletes can reach speeds of 60km/h on downhill stretches.
Street skating is a term commonly used for road skating, where a group of people ride on city streets as a form of recreation. Friday Night Skate is a popular tradition in many cities in which one Friday a year street skating happens on a highway course.
Road Skating at the World Games
Road skating is one of the Roller Sports disciplines at the World Games. It is in the form of Speed Skating Road, and it made its debut to the 2013 Cali World Games. Subsequently, it featured at the 2017 Wroclaw World Games and 2022 Birmingham World Games.
This sport was not part of the three Roller Sports disciplines that made it to the 2025 Chengdu World Games. These disciplines were Speed Skating, Inline Freestyle, and Inline Hockey.
Apart from the World Games, Road Skating is also one of the sports featured in popular competitions like the Olympics, World Skate Games, and World Skate Marathon Tour.
Similar Sports
- Roller Skiing — races are conducted on tarmac road courses with athletes wearing snow skis with wheels attached.
- Inline Speed Skating — athletes use inline skates to race around tracks.
- Inline Skating — also known as roller blading, a variety of sports performed while wearing skates with two to five polyurethane wheels arranged in a single line.
- SpikeBoarding — a simplified form of Nordic XC roller skiing only on one board instead of two. (New Sport)
Related Pages
- List of Roller Sports
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports — a list of every sport from around the world.
- Roller Sports at the Olympics
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