WORLD INLINE CUP - Official Marathon Roller Series of FIRS

Yann Guyader Wins Under the Sun of Rennes

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:38:00 +0200

Rennes, 13 May 2012: Yann Guyader (FRA, EOSKATES IDEEprint) has won the sprint of the 2012 World Inline Cup's first men's race here in France. Jana Gegner (GER, EOSKATES IDEEprint) was the fastest woman, beating her teammate Roberta Casu (ITA) as well in a photo finish.

The man started fast with an average speed of more than 42 km/h with Ewen Fernandez (FRA, Powerslide Matter World) and Julien Levrard (FRA, EOSKATES IDEEprint) doing most of the work. Then Guyader took over, controlling the speed an his competitors. He started a break away 2 km before the finish and won the sprint in great fashion. Elton De Souza (FRA) and Beddiaf Nolan (FRA) came in just after Guyader to complete the top three.

The girls delivered a more international podium: Germany's Jana Gegner proofed to be the strongest in the final sprint after a nice race, just ahead of Roberta Casu and the first French Justine Halbout confirming her good start into the French season.

Throughout the weekend, spectators had witnessed Inline Skating and the event village in all its forms: shopping, hiking, freestyle & Entertainment with a program where everyone could learn, compete or just enjoy. Rennes sur Roulettes now already for the 30th year is not only speed skating, it shows various free style competitions: Slalom speed, Freestyle slalom, Cross skate, a Mind The Gap Contest and MTB Slopestyle. All of which on the highest possible level!

The World Inline Cup will move on in the meantime as the first Top Class event is already held in Incheon, Korea, next Sunday (20 May 2012). We are very much looking forward to seeing the first showdown between Yann Guyader and Bart Swings (BEL, Powerslide Matter World) at the traditional race in Asia.

2012 World Inline Cup kicks-off in Rennes

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:35:00 +0200

Rennes/Zurich, 8 May 2012: The world�s first tier Inline Skating series celebrates its debut in Rennes, France, this year next Sunday, 13 May 2012. It is the race�s 30th anniversary that is broadly celebrated already on Saturday with plenty of festivities and all kinds of roller sports before the international Inline elite gathers for their first WIC Marathon of the season on Sunday afternoon.

Again amongst the favorites to win the 2012 World Inline Cup is Yann Guyader (EOSKATES IDEEprint). The 28-year-old French has already won everything that is up for grab in the business: World Championships, European Championships, the World Inline Cup and countless important single races. After starting well into the season with a win at the Trois-Pistes amongst others he is the guy to beat in Brittany.

The 2012 World Inline Cup will offer a total of 100�000 USD in Prize Money. The world�s best athletes accumulate points in 6 races organised in 5 countries. At the end of the season the athletes and teams with most points are crowned as the World Inline Cup Winners.

Successful World Inline Cup Meeting in Zurich

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:53:00 +0100

Zurich, 2 March 2012: Coaches, managers, owners and athletes of WIC Teams met with the World Inline Cup Organization and Race Director on Friday to discuss the future of the world's official Inline marathon tour. The main objective has been to exchange ideas in general and learn more about the strategies of all parties involved. After the meeting most of the contributors enjoyed the dinner offered by the WIC and continued the productive talks. Some of the results will already be part of the 2012 World Inline Cup Rulebook that is to be released in the coming days and will be as well available for download here at http://www.world-inline-cup.com/events/rules.html.

Additional Race for the World Inline Cup:
Jeonju International Inline Marathon joins WIC

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:56:00 +0100

Zurich/Seoul, 27 January 2012: The Jeonju Roller Sports Federation, ESA_sports and the WIC Organization have signed a 3-year-contract to include the traditional Jeonju International Inline Marathon into the world's top-tier Inline Skating series. The best athletes from all around the globe will compete for a prize money of more than 20'000 US$ on the Sunday following this year's World Championships in Italy.

"We are more than happy, that together with ESA_sports, being our longtime partner for South Korea, we were able to cater the wish of the organizers in Jeonju to include their famous event into the World Inline Cup," says WIC CEO Hinnerk Femerling. The race is now listed in the WIC TOP Class category and the winner will take 180 points on the way to the 2012 World Inline Cup Championship.

The 2012 WIC Calendar has already secured stops in 5 countries around the globe with negotiations still pending in China, Thailand, Spain and Switzerland.

13.05.12   WIC C1 - Rennes - France
20.05.12   WIC TC - Incheon - Korea
10.06.12   WIC C1 - Dijon - France
16.06.12   WIC C1 - Ostrava - Czech Republic
26.08.12   WIC C1 - Gdansk - Poland
16.09.12   WIC TC - Jeonju - Korea

A Story Beyond the Success of IDEEprint-EOSKATES

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:29:00 +0100

Zurich, 6 December 2011: Patrik Gr�tzer says, he is �really very satisfied� with the results of his IDEEprint-EOSKATES team in 2011 and he has good reasons to be: best team in the World Inline Cup overall ranking, M�lissa Chouleysko 2nd and Renata Karabova 3rd in the Women�s individual standings. Already after the first full season the Swiss Inline Skating squad has left the competition behind.

Being fascinated by the sport for years and participating in competitions himself, Patrik decided to �having his own team� after starting his personal business with the IDEEprint company. His team was �IDEEprint-X-tech� in 2008 before he met with Daniel Busser of EOSKATES in Berlin September 2010. They joined forces and found strong athletes from France, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland and Italia to set-up a new group.

In 2011 it was mainly the two 24 year old M�lissa Chouleysko and Renata Karabova who led the team through the season and accounted 789 of the total 890 points that made IDEEprint-EOSKATES the World Inline Cup Women Team Champions. Being on top of the world needs a lot of sacrifices in a sport that has not the same public awareness as soccer or formula 1 racing.

M�lissa does not like the word �sacrifice� though as she says that she does all of this because she really likes it and in winter there are times when she gives priority to recharging her batteries by spending more time with family and friend(s) at home in France. And they are paying back: her boyfriend does not only support her by understanding that there is not so much time in-between M�lissa�s job, practice and the competitions, but as well by riding the bike when she is on skates going for long distances.

Being a university student it seems as if Renata�s schedule is not as packed as, but with developing her own juniors inline skating team at home in Slovakia there is no time to be bored. In exchange seeing how the kids improve makes her more than happy. In winter Renata fuels as well her career on ice. It started with Hockey when she was 13 and shortly after she had the opportunity to try short track. She took part in several Junior World Championships, the World Cup and the Seniors European Championship. Renata is one of the few racers, who took part in the World Cup of ice short track, long track, and inline skating.

Still both of them are not considering themselves being full professionals although they need to dedicate as much time to the sport to be competitive. So it is the passion for the inline sport that motivates them to pull out their best. Renata likes relays and hates running practices whereas M�lissa prefers endurance races over sprinting to get there. Competing with the world�s best is an important goal, but all the team likes as well the chance to see the world. Visiting countries like China, Korea and Venezuela plus meeting people from all corners on the globe remains an exciting part of the package.

So what are the plans for 2012? Renata shared with us that she would like to attend her first World Champions after 2008 in Gijon. But the main goal with the IDEEprint-EOSKATES team is to repeat winning the World Inline Cup. Daniel Busser will be the manager and Patrik Gr�tzer concentrating on the coaching. The girls are going to give their best to make it happen for sure. And they will enjoy every inch of it. The joint fervour for Inline Skating is a strong common basis for this old and new endeavour.

Scott Arlidge and Yang He Zhen win in Haining - Nicole Begg and Severin Widmer are World Inline Cup Champions 2011

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:04:00 +0200

Haining 05 October 2011: Scott Arlidge (Powerslide Matter World, NZL) has won the men's WIC Grand Prix in a photo finish ahead of Severin Widmer (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI). Yann GUYADER (Powerslide Matter World, FRA) led the sprint of the pack to complete the podium. In the women's Race YANG He Zhen (TWA) overpowered Guan Ying Rong (TWA) and Guo Dan (CHN) by less than a skate to take home the victory.

The ladies had experienced an all-tactical race until the final sprint, which left World Inline Cup Ranking Leader Nicole Begg (X-tech MPC-International, NZL) back in the field. Not being fully recovered from a cold she could not breath properly. But with Renata Karabova (IDEEprint-EOSKATES, SVK) and Melissa Chouleysko (IDEEprint-EOSKATES, FRA) coming in only two spots in front of her, she managed to seal her first World Inline Cup Championship as the best skater of combined 7 events this season.

On the men�s side the many spectators in Haining saw some more speed throughout the competition with lots of small attacks from various skaters. 5 km before the finish Severin Widmer and Scott Alridge managed to significantly break-away from the pack. �I am � like everybody � tiered at the end of the season, so I did not expect too much before the race. Now I am even more happy to win in Haining. I knew that if I can be in the leading group until the end there is a good chance in the final sprint,� Scott said after the race. And this is how it came out after 42 km: with the last four or five steps he secured the biggest share of the 30�000 USD in Prize Money and raised his arms crossing the finish line.

Severin Widmer was not too unhappy with being second, though, as this still lifted him on top of the World Inline Cup season end ranking as teammate Nicolas Iten (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) �only� finished 6th. The Swiss-Skate-Team won as well the men�s season team score, while on the women�s side this trophy will go to IDEEprint-EOSKATES.

Results WIC Grand Prix in Haining 2011

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:47:00 +0200

Men
1. Scott ARLIDGE (Powerslide Matter World, NZL) 1:03:02.227
2. Severin WIDMER (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) 1:03:02.737
3. Yann GUYADER (Powerslide Matter World, FRA) 1:03:49.150

Women
1. YANG He Zhen (TWN) 1:24:39.878
2. GUAN Ying Rong (TWN) 1:24:39.912
3. GUO Dan (CHN) 1:24:39.917

WIC Grand Prix in Haining starts at 9:00 a.m. local time

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:36:00 +0200

The starting time of the men's race in Haining tomorrow (5 October 2011) has been finally fixed for 9:00 a.m. The ladies will start 2 minutes later to go for 7 laps of 6 km each.

Nicole Begg and Nicolas Iten on the Way to their first World Inline Cup Championship in Haining

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:09:00 +0200

Haining, 03 October 2011: Nicole Begg (X-tech MPC-International, NZL) and Nicolas Iten (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) are on the way to win their first World Inline Cup Championship when they are starting at the WIC Grand Prix in Haining (China) on Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. local time. They are both leading the 2011 World Inline Cup Ranking after the first 6 of 7 events.

While Nicole on the women's side is enjoying a quite big lead ahead of Renata Karabova (IDEEprint-EOSKATES, SVK) and Melissa Chouleysko (IDEEprint-EOSKATES, FRA) which leaves her runner-ups with rather mathematical chances to still change the picture, Nicolas' winning margin is only some 23 points over team mate Severin Widmer (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) and another 41 points to last year's champion Yann Guyader (Powerslide Matter World, FRA) before the last leg of the tour.

"I'm going to Haining to win the race," says Yann and with the winner making 240 points it most likely will be a thrilling show down of the two top teams of the 2011 season. Powerslide Matter World and the Swiss-Skate-Team have dominated the men's series and it will be all about how they can support their aces in the critical phase of the year. For European Inline Skating Marathon Champion Yann Guyader on top of realising a position in front of the pack it will be necessary to keep his team in-between him and last event's winner Nicolas Iten to fill the gap in the ranking and complete the repeat.

But apart from the hunt for another title, Yann is just looking forward to Wednesday morning: "It's going to be a nice race, on a new course with the Swiss guys for the last event of the world inline circus." The 30'000 USD of prize money make the showdown in the Chinese leather-city the biggest purse of the global Inline Skating season. The marathon is the peak of the Haining Inline Festival that show's top sport and mass participating all week.

Lech Walesa Follows the Podium Sweep of the Swiss-Skate-Team - Giovanna Turchiarelli Repeats Season Opener Victory

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:42:00 +0200

Gdansk, 29 August 2011: Giovanna Turchiarelli (Allesi World, ITA) and Nicolas Iten (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) are the winners of the third edition of the Lech Walesa August Marathon in Gdansk. Poland's President had officially opened the event that is part of the initiative "Wheels, wheels - one company" to allow the use of bicycle paths with roller skates.

600 Athletes from 16 countries participated in the last but second race of this year's World Inline Cup that will see its grand finale in China at the beginning of October. The new course proved to be pretty fast, but strong winds hampered the international top athletes as much as the many fitness skaters that joined for a half marathon.

Last year's World Inline Cup Champion Giovanna Turchiarell secured her second victory in 2011 with Roberta Casu (IDEEprint-EOSKATES, ITA) and Aleksandra Goss - being the best home country skater - completing the podium. In the men's competition it was once more an All-Swiss affaire with Nicolas Iten on top followed by Severin Widmer (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) and Michael Achermann (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI). The best Polish athlete - Daniel Gwadera - came in on seventh place. With his win in Gdansk Nicolas Iten is the new leader in the men's World Inline Cup ranking putting pressure on Yann Guyader (Powerslide Matter World, FRA) that only has one chance left to fight back at the WIC Grand Prix in Haining.

Result WIC Gdansk 2011

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:22:00 +0200

Women:
1. Turchiarelli, Giovanna (ITA) Alessi World 01:14:51,00;
2. Casu, Roberta (ITA) Ideeprint -Eoskates 01:14:52,79;
3. Goss, Aleksandra (POL) 01:14:55,87

Men:
1. Iten, Nicolas (SUI) Swiss Skate Team 01:04:07,53;
2. Widmer, Severin (SUI) Swiss Skate Team 01:04:07,61;
3. Achermann, Michael (SUI) Swiss Skate Team 01:04:07,73

Ostrava celebrates Nicole Begg and Severin Widmer

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:44:00 +0200

Ostrava, 18 June 2011: Nicole Begg (NZL) and Severin Widmer (SUI) have reached a victory in the main World Inline Cup races of Ostrava�s in-line skating festival under the cloudy sky with more than 1�500 participants during Friday�s evening free ride and Saturday�s race program with crowds of spectators.

In the women's 33 km race it has been a battle of the three leading ladies in the WIC ranking, Nicole Begg (X-techMPC-International, NZL), Melissa Chouleysko (IDEE print-EOSKATES, FRA) and Renata Karabova (IDEE print-EOSKATES, SVK), against Czech representative in short track Katerina Novotna (6th at 2006 Olympics Games in Torino and European Champion 2010). They left the rest of racers in the 2nd of 11 laps and presented a tactical racing. The strongest looking Begg and Novotn� left behind Karabov� at 3rd lap and Chouleysko at 7th lap.

More successful has been Begg, she decided about her victory at the strong finish. �I know about the quality of Katerina, that is why I was not too active � I believed in my sprint,� stated Nicole Begg.

�I'm very satisfied with 2nd place, it has been a nice race and good practise for my ice skating. I beat second and third best racers in the WIC ranking, it's a good result. But I would have prefered more active racing from the side of my competitors,� said Katerina Novotna.

Men�s WIC race on the same 33 km attractive track on the main streets of Ostrava-Poruba has resulted to a great triumph for the strong Swiss-Skate-Team. The Swiss skaters led the 111 racers from the start. At lap no. 4 a strong group of 14 racers started their turbo speed, and at lap 5 Achermann decided to break-away. He forged the lead to 20 seconds in front of the group with Santamaria, Iten, Acosta, Bastidas, Dias, Michael, Widmer, Ulreich, Moreno, Marreiros and Czechs Krupka, Such� and Adam Adlt, and when he was hunted down, his teammate Widmer attacked strongly. His lead was 30 seconds in the 9th lap and 45 in lap 10.

Widmer celebrated his solo victory already on the final straighjt while other racers had to fight strongly at finish. The sprint of the pursuers was won by Peter Michael (X-tech MPC-International, NZL) followed by Nicolas Iten (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI).

Quotes: �Our team controlled the whole race, it was very tactical from our side. I have reached my 4th victory in the WIC series, I'm very satisfied,� said the winner from Oberg�sgen in Switzerland.
�I have had no chance to do more without support of team, I'm satisfied. The track in Ostrava is very nice and good for my finish,� stated Peter Michael, the second man of the race.

Results WIC Ostrava

Ladies:
1. Nicole Begg (X-tech MPC-International, NZL) 1:01:26,145
2. Katerina Novotna (KSB Benatky, CZE) 1:01:26,744
3. Melissa Chouleysko (IDEE print-EOSKATES, FRA) 1:01:40,033

Men:
1. Severin Widmer (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) 51:49,248
2. Peter Michael (X-tech MPC-International, NZL) 52:40,581
3. Nicolas Iten (Swiss-Skate-Team, SUI) 52:40,771