Freestyle slalom skating

Inline Freestyle Slalom is a highly technical field of inline skating that involves performing tricks around a straight line of equally spaced cones. The three spacing used in competitions is 80 centimetres (31 in), 50 centimetres (20 in) and 120 centimetres (47 in).^[1]

Freestyle skaters in action at Les Invalides, Paris

Equipment (Classic Slalom)

Freestyle slalom skaters use inline skates, with some variations. The skates use a rocker configuration, however there are other variations of the rocker set-up that exist. The rocker setup is where only 2 wheels are touching the floor at any point in time, usually with a 2mm height difference between the higher and lower wheels. Flat setups, where all four wheels touch the ground are rare.

There are two common ways to rocker the wheels. Firstly, is by putting larger wheels in the center and smaller wheels on each end. An example of this is having 80 mm wheels in the 2nd and 3rd position and 76 mm in the front and back. The second method is having a rockered frame. The frame uses the same sized wheel for all 4 wheels with the height difference built into the frame.

The frame length (230–245 mm) is often determined by shoe size or preference. Inline skates used for slalom have a snug to tight fit, and with a stiff cuff to give sustained ankle support.

Equipment (Speed Slalom)

Custom 3-wheel Speed Slalom Skate (100 105 105)

In speed slalom, skaters use 3 wheeled skates instead of 4 wheels as it allows them to sprint faster.

List of slalom moves

The list of basic moves from easiest to hardest. There are many more moves than the ones shown in the list, and many variations on how to complete each move. The names of these moves may differ between communities.

A full list of tricks recognised by World Skate can be found here in the regulations.

Basic

• Forwards Parallel (Fish)
• Forwards Monoline (Snake)
• Forwards Criss-Cross
• Alternating Forwards Cross
• Double Cross
• Forwards One Foot

Beginner

• Backwards Monoline (Snake)
• Backwards Criss-Cross
• Backwards Parallel (Fish)
• Forwards Heel-Toe Snake
• Forwards Heel-Toe Criss-Cross
• Forwards Toe-Toe Snake
• Forwards Heel-Heel Snake
• Forwards Shifted Cross
• Backwards Shifted Cross
• Eagle
• Eagle Cross (Independent)
• Eagle Shifted Cross (Wave)
• Eagle Royal
• Eagle Royal Cross
• Reverse Eagle
• Reverse Eagle Criss-Cross
• Reverse Eagle Shifted Cross
• Fake Side-Surf

Intermediate

• Crazy
• Grapevine (Mabrouk)
• Double Crazy
• Double Crazy Back
• Forwards Stroll
• Backwards Stroll
• Backwards One Foot
• Chapi Chapo
• X
• X 2
• X Jump (Crab Cross)
• Nelson
• Nelson Back
• Nelson Transfer Back (X-Back)
• Sun
• Miniman (Small car 5 Wheels Sitting)
• Pendulum

Advanced

• Alternating Cross
• Crazy Sun
• Mexican
• Italian
• Volte
• Wiper
• Footspin
• Special
• Oliver
• Brush
• Chicken Leg
• Cobra
• Butterfly

Master

• Rocket (Coffee Machine)
• Backwards Rocket
• Christie
• Kasatchok
• Toe Wheeling
• Grabbed Toe Wheeling
• Heel Wheeling
• Grabbed Heel Wheeling
• Screw
• Leaf
• Swan
• Deckchair (Corvo)

Certification

While there are no official certifications recognised by World Skate, finding skaters via social media is a common method of connection. Certain countries and companies may offer certification services to align skill levels across communities.

Both the ICP and Skate IA offer slalom instructor certification programs which develop the ability of skaters and coaches in breaking down slalom tricks. They also expand instructors' ability in identifying and solving problems in slalom skating.

Competitions

The World Slalom Series Association (WSSA) organised the first World Championships in inline freestyle in 2008.^[2] The competition has been held annually since then and in 2015, World Skate recognized it as an official world championships from the organization, known as the Inline Freestyle World Championship.^[3] This competition has been part of the World Skate Games since 2017. As of 2024 WSSA no longer organizes major calendar competitions in inline freestyle.^[4]

World Skate currently hosts all compeititons and ranks skaters based on their performances. There are a range of types of competitions, from local, to continental, and international.^[1]