Battle Moscow
2nd Edition (March 20-21, 2009)
1st WSSA European Battle Championship
FRENCH Version Available HERE!!
Recap of the Organization of the World Slalom Series
The first European Slalom Battle Championship took place on Friday and Saturday March 20-21. For this first year of setting up, the appellation goes to Battle Moscow (2nd Edition). Indeed this 2009 Season witnesses a better organization of the World Slalom Series circuit: competitions all around the world ranked according to the number of criteria that the organization is able to apply (seize of the battleground, prize-money, accessibility, internationality, etc.) – each event gets a certain number of “cones” (0, 1, 2, or 3) according to their importance (« zero-cone » = regional event, « three cones » = major event). There can only be but two major events (three cones) per year, one in Europe and one in Asia. The skaters taking part to the events get points (according to the category of the competition and to the ranking they get at it.) The points enable the skaters to be ranked in the WSSA World Ranking, which is updated after each WSSA event.
“WSSA European Championship” thus means that it is the major WSSA competition in Europe for the 2009 season – nb: Non-European skaters can still register.
For more information on the organization of the circuit, the points, the planning of events, and everything, go and check www.worldslalomseries.com
Adrenalin Skatepark
The battle took place at Adrenalin Skatepark just like last year, but this time it lasted two days. Friday was for speed-slalom (Girls and Boys categories) and to the two first rounds of the Mens Battle; and the quarter-semi-and-finals of both Men and Women took place on Saturday.
What could I say about the rink? Apart from the fact that the food at the cafeteria is good but the waiting too long, that the ramps of the streetpark next door are cool, and that the floor is extreeemely slippery – especially when you’re used to skate outdoors on good old asphalt…
The Skaters
Most of the skaters present at Battle SPB (of the previous weekend) were there (i.e. mostly Russians, Byelorussians, and Ukrainians), plus some other skaters from further countries (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany). Anyway there was a good bunch of top-skaters, for men as well as for women…
Friday March 20, 2009
Speed Slalom
The competition started on Friday at 10am with the Mens Speed-slalom time trials. Igor Cheremetieff (FRA) ranks first of the qualifications with 4.61; Tiziano Ferrari (ITA) is on his heels with 4.69; The Russian Kirill ‘ReKiL’ Ryazantsev (4.91) and Andrei Shitov (4.67) rank third and fourth; Gerogiy Kresman (RUS) is next, followed by Victor Bermudez (SPA), Mischa Gurevich (GER), Xuan Le (FRA), …
As for the Womens time trials: Kristina Lysenko (RUS) is at the head of the qualifications with 5.08 (impressive and efficient start!), followed by Olya ‘Fercha’ Fadina (RUS) with 5.46, by the French Chloé Seyrès and Fanny Violeau respectively with 5.5 and 5.56, and by Katya Surmach (RUS) with 5.66. the rest of the results are pretty bad because of too many cone penalties.
Only the sixteen first men and the eight first women go through to the KO Systems.
Mens Speed-Slalom KO Systems
Eights Finals
The rounds are won by the favorites (i.e. the skaters above-mentioned for the qualifications) in two winning runs, except for two closer rounds which were won (still) by the favorites in three runs: Victor Bermudez (SPA) Vs. Viacheslav Sinyushko (UKR), and Mischa Gurevich (GER) Vs. Andrey Stepanishev (RUS).
Quarter Finals
The quarter finals are as quickly set and done with three out of the four rounds in two winning rounds – the fourth round was between two Russians of equivalent level in speed Georgiy Kresman and Andrei Shitov. Finally, the winners going through to the semi finals are: Igor Cheremetieff (FRA), Andrei Shitov (RUS), Kirill ‘ReKiL’ Ryazantsev (RUS), and TIziano Ferrari (ITA) – respectively at the expense of Xuan Le (FRA), Georgiy Kresman (RUS), Victor Bermudez (SPA), and Mischa Gurevich (GER).
Semi Finals
SF#1: The first semi final opposes Igor Cheremetieff (FRA) to Andrei Shitov (RUS). In pure speed, Igor Cheremetieff is faster (around 5.5) but he kicks more cones and thus offers the victory of the round – and the going through to the final – to Andrei Shitov.
SF#2: The second semi final is quickly botched by Tiziano Ferrari (ITA): two perfects are enough to knock out Kirill ‘ReKiL’ Ryazantsev (RUS) who is not as steady as Ferrari.
Consolation Final
Here we find Igor Cheremetieff (FRA) and Kirill ‘ReKiL’ Ryazantsev (RUS).
Beyond dispute, the round is won in two runs by Igor Cheremetieff – faster, being two to three tenths ahead of ReKiL.
Final: Shitov Vs. Ferrari
Andrei Shitov (RUS) can’t compete against Tiziano Ferrari (ITA) who wins this final hands down (two winning perfects)… quite a good operation: not only is he consecrated WSSA European Champion in Speed slalom, but the points he gets from this first place enable him to reach the WSSA World #1 place!
Results of the Mens Speed Slalom
1-Tiziano Ferrari (ITA)
2-Andrei Shitov (RUS)
3-Igor Cheremetieff (FRA)
4-Kirill ‘ReKiL’ Ryazantsev (RUS)
Womens Speed Slalom KO Systems
Quarter finals
The surprise of these womens quarter finals is the knocking out of Fanny Violeau (FRA), who ranked fourth at the qualifications, and who found herself against the fifth Katya Surmach (RUS) – a little less fast but with a clockwork steadiness at perfects…
The other favorites (i.e. Kristina Lysenko (RUS), Chloé Seyrès (FRA), and Olya ‘Fercha’ Fadina (RUS)) win their respective rounds and go through to the semi finals.
Semi finals
SF#1: Katya Surmach (RUS) knocks out Kristina Lysenko (RUS) the first of the qualifications. Same comment as for the preceeding round: Surmach is extremely steady… a super-strong point!
SF#2: Chloé Seyrès (FRA) knocks out Olya ‘Fercha’ Fadina (RUS) in three runs – with somewhat equivalent times, Seyrès is steadier (three perfects).
Consolation Final
Kristina Lysenko (RUS) wins the co-final (and thus reaches the third place) in two winning perfects, helped by Olya ‘Fercha’ Fadina (RUS) who stroke twice.
Final: Surmach Vs. Seyrès
The title of WSSA European Champion goes to Katya Surmach (RUS) who triumphs thanks to her steadiness, relegating Chloé Seyrès (FRA) at the second place. The French had the advantage on the first run, but lost it on the second run with a beautiful strike… and the third run goes to Surmach, Seyrès though one tenth ahead having pushed a cone.
Results of the Womens Speed Slalom
1-Katya Surmach (RUS)
2-Chloé Seyrès (FRA)
3-Kristina Lysenko (RUS)
4-Olya Fadina (RUS)
Qualifiers of the Mens Battle
After the speed-slalom categories, it was time for the two first rounds of the Mens Battle Qualifiers. For the first round there were 13 groups… and the skaters were treated to three runs each to try to go through to the next round.
Saturday March 21, 2009
Womens Battle
Do you remember when I was saying that for Battle SPB the level of the girls category was such that at least half of them could compete against most of the men? …Well, the same here… but even worse!
Amongst the sixteen skaters there were the same protagonists: Chloé Seyrès (FRA, #2 WSSA), Polina Semenova (RUS, #3), Fanny Violeau (FRA, #5), Nadezhda Zelenova (RUS, #9), Marina Boyko (UKR, #14), Angelika Babiy (RUS, #15), Olya Fadina (RUS, #18), Sabina Ismailova (UKR, #48) ; …and a few more : Miriam Kwasny (GER, #6), Kristina Lysenko (RUS, #35)…
Quarter Finals
The competitions started with the quarter finals… not yet too complicated to make forecasts (or sometimes just a little bit…)
QF#1: Chloé Seyrès (FRA) and Kristina Lysenko (RUS) qualify at the expense of Olya ‘Fercha’ Fadina (RUS) and Anna Ermolova (RUS).
QF#2: Nadezhda Zelenova (RUS) and Sabina Ismailova (UKR) knock out Miriam Kwasny (GER).
QF#3: Marina Boyko (UKR) and Fanny Violeau (FRA) go through letting Katya Surmach (RUS, nb: the winner of the speed of the previous day) and Asya Dolgikh (RUS) high and dry.
QF#4: Angelika Babiy (RUS) and Polina Smenova (RUS) qualify hands down in front of Komissarzhevskaya Sv. 5RUS) and Sonya Korzunina (RUS).
Semi Finals
Here is some suspense!
First group:
Chloé Seyrès (FRA, #2), Nadezda Zelenova (RUS, #9), Polina Semenova (RUS, #3), Fanny Violeau (FRA, #5).
The fact that Polina Semenova ranked only second of her quarter-final group (behind Angelika Babiy) makes her go to the upper-part of the group-chart… which explains why four top-skaters have to meet as soon as the semi-finals.
The situation could be summed up as following: two over-trained Russians facing two a-little-less-trained Frenchies…
The main fight is between C.Seyrès (FRA), N.Zelenova (RUS), and P.Semenova (RUS)… three candidates but only two qualifying places for the final…
For the regular readers, maybe you remember the “Wham goes the French” thing at Battle SPB whereshe had come, hands in pockets, to face super-ready Russian adversaries? She took her hands off of her pockets in-between the two competitions – not the same mistake twice in-a-row!!… and apparently it was worth it, at least enough to let the judges in front of an unsolvable puzzle: “how to put the circle in the square” or “how to put three skaters in two places”? Each skater has her on style, each one managed her performances (three runs) equivalently – both in variety and technique… hard to compare! The adopted solution is: the three go through to the final. And even if it’s true it’s a little twist in the rule (but the decisions of the judges are irrevocable) I personally found it pretty cool: after all… the more, the merrier!
Second group:
Kristina Lysenko (RUS), Angelika Babiy (RUS), Marina Boyko (UKR), Sabina Ismailova (UKR).
The choice is less hard to make – even though given the skaters, I wouldn’t have risked myself to make any forecasts… But Kristina Lysenko can’t cope with stress and she kicks lots of cones; and Sabina Ismailova – 13-year-old, including only one year of slalom-skating, but already with a rather impressive technique as for screws – though still weak in sitting tricks and wheelings. The going through to the final goes to Angelika Babiy and Marina Boyko, both skaters having shown varied and original (with their own touch) mastered performances.
Consolation Final
The knocked-outs of the semi-finals meet in an express co-final (two runs + one last trick): Fanny Violeau (FRA), Kristina Lysenko (RUS), and Sabina Ismailova (UKR). And it’s Fanny Violeau who concentrated on sitting tricks – but also making sure of doing a little bit of screws and wheeling to show variety, who wins the co-final – i.e. the 6th place of the competition. Not only did she manage her runs pretty well, but her rivals did poor performances…
Thanks to this ranking, Fanny Violeau wins one place in the WSSA World Ranking and reaches thus the #4 world place, occupied till then by Naomi Grigg (UK).
Final
The finalists choose their order to go according to their world ranking. Chloé Seyrès is the first to choose, she goes first (the sooner the better!); Polina Semenova chooses the tactical fifth (last) position (which is good to have a general overview and adapt your runs according to the combos managed by the other finalists, but it is also very good to stress); Nadezhda Zelenova chooses to go second, Marina Boyko third, and Angelika Babiy has no choice but taking the fourth place.
Let’s quickly present the finalists following their order to go…
1-Chloé Seyrès, the specialists in last-minute set runs – she can thus adapt very quickly to the situation, she may not have the technical advantage but she probably has the tactical advantage.
2-Nadezda Zelenova: the one who kicks all of our asses (and most of the boys’) in technique if she manages everything she’s planned. She’s a cut above the rest as for wheelings (back-to-front, specials one foot, wheeling-to-seven combos, etc.) However her rate of success is quite unsteady.
3-Marina Boyko, the Ukrainian who can do mega-Korean spins (normal to switch)… she owes her place in final to her steadiness, her balance and her cleanliness. She is specialized in screws, anyway she also has good bases in all the other types of tricks (egg… sitting: kasakspins / wheeling: back toe).
4-Angelika Babiy, the promising little Russian of last year has simply witnessed her level peak up since last year. Her style could be compared to that of Polina Semenova: a lot of screws and spins in every way, a balanced and precise skating, and atypical launchings of tricks. She is also good at sitting tricks (Christie front to back on the 80s) and begins to master wheelings quite well (back heel).
5-Polina Semenova lately doubled up her efforts in sitting tricks (free Christie on the 80s, back kasakchoks) and (especially) in wheelings (her weak point): back wheelings and beginnings of sevens!
Runs 1
1-Chloé Seyrès starts with a well-mastered external toe seven, goes on with a little freestyle to launch back heel-toe crossed compasses; she doesn’t manage to do seven so she activates B-plan – that is to say Pink Floyd (the thing with the rotating kick) to grabbed heel spin, and makes up for the unbalanced end with American splits… she ends up the line doing heel wheeling.
2-Nadezhda Zelenova starts with a heel fishleg on the 80s, then she does a big back heel-toe crossed compass (two spins around two cones), and a combo of back-to-front toe wheeling (5x3) to uncrossed screw; she then goes on with sitting tricks doing back free Christie (not down) to front kasakchok (hesitating) to wiper to heel seven (out of the line) – but well… what a combo!
3-Marina Boyko does sitting tricks to begin with (little damper: not down either): kasakspin to back kasakchok to back free christie to lateral kasakchok… she finishes the line managing 5 cones doing back toe wheeling, and ends up the run managing a dozen of cones doing speed heel wheeling on the 50s.
4-Angelika Babiy begins with a flat butterfly; then she does heel-heel Korean spin managing four cones and finishes the 5 last cones doing back heel wheeling; then she goes to the 120s to do front kasakchok to crossed eagle to back kasakchok.
5-Polina Semenova manages a nice
heel-toe combo: wiper-cobra to cobra front then back, to heel-toe crossed compasses front then back; and finished doing wheeling on the 50s.
Runs 2
1-Chloé Seyrès does heel wheeling switch to normal to back on the 50s. Then she shows sitting tricks on the 120s doing kasakchok to kasakspin, U-turn still doing kasakspin on the last cone and back the whole 14-cone line doing back kasakchok.
2-Nadezhda Zelenova doesn’t manage her second run as it was initially planned (she misses toe special one foot, back external heel seven); she then goes to the 50s, tries once again (but without success) to do heel special one foot, does toe reverse eagle to crossed compasses, and misses to do heel wheeling back-to-front.
3-Marina Boyko does a run mostly based on screws with a toe chicken leg to begin with, then a snail doing mega-Korean spin normal to switch (!!), a little transition doing toe wheeling before a combo of wiper to back footgun.
4-Angelika Babiy does Christie front to back on the 80s, goes on with a little freestyle and gets out of the line doing toe wheeling; she then rushes to the little 80s to launch back heel-toe crossed compasses and back wheeling.
5-Polina Semenova has fun with wheelings: after four cones she unhooks and makes a big external circle, re-hooks to the line for four more cones, re-unhooks… and goes back to the 80s doing sitting tricks: kasakchok front to lateral (but puts her hand on the ground), and here she goes again with back kasakchok.
Runs 3
1-Chloé Seyrès does freestyle on the 50s to launch a combo of wiper to toe wheeling to sewing-machine (but hesitates twice); then she goes to the 80s on which she toes toe wheeling snail (to answer back to Polina’s wheeling games), and a nice toe chicken leg which she finishes doing toe-toe spin.
2-Nadezhda Zelenova warms up a little with a Z and a few screws before launching toe wheeling to toe seven (two cones); then she goes to the 120s to do that weird sitting trick of hers (front free Christie to back free footgun) to back kasakchok (managing only two cones).
3-Marina Boyko starts by doing seven but she unhooks after two cones and goes on heel spinning out of the line. Then she does a nice combo of wipers front to back on the 50s and finishes doing Russian voltes.
4-Angelika Babiy does a combo based of cobra-tricks (front to spin to front to…) and which she finishes doing toe spin; on the 50s she does free footgun to wiper, and then snail heel-toe Korean-spin (very nice impression!) and wheeling.
5-Polina Semenova starts by doing four-cone back heel wheeling on the 80s, misses an interesting transition (cobra to heel chicken leg), and manages two cones doing seven, which she links to switch heel wheeling to free Christie; she ends up on the 120s with back footgun to back kasakchok managing six cones.
Last Tricks
1-Chloé Seyrès: a combo of kasakchoks… four cones going frontward, U-turn around the cone, four cones going backward, U-turn, etc. This trick is not highly technical, but guessing what the other finalists would show she’d rather do a trick (maybe technically a little below) which she was sure to manage.
2-Nadezhda Zelenova: tries wheeling to seven… twice… but misses both her tries. This mistake costs her the podium (hard to compete with only three runs and no last trick).
3-Marina Boyko: does sitting tricks too, going back and fro on the 50s doing lateral kasakchok (normal-switch) but with quite a lot of cones down while going back.
4-Angelika Babiy: does butterfly managing 20 cones of the 80s and goes back doing toe crossed compass – there are a few hesitations during the butterfly, but there are no cones down.
5-Polina Semenova: nice last trick made of different kinds of cobras (nb: heel-toe crossed snake) on the 80s. 20 cones doing wiper-cobra, back doing front cobra (even too easy for here) and back again doing back cobra – but stops after only a few cones.
Results of the Womens Battle:
1-Chloé Seyrès (FRA)
2-Polina Semenova (RUS)
3-Angelika Babiy (RUS)
4-Nadezda Zelenova (RUS)
5-Marina Boyko (RUS)
Chloé Seyrès hits twice with the same stone: in taking hold of the WSSA European Champion title, she thus gets back the #1 place at the WSSA world ranking that the Chinese Chen Chen has been occupying since September 2008.
No changes for Polina Semenova who keeps her #3 place.
Nadezhda Zelenova gains 3 places and reaches world #12, just behind Angelika Babiy (#11) who gains ten places!
Marina Boyko also gains 11 places, going from #24 to #13.
Mens Battle
The qualifiers ‘til the quarter finals took place on Friday afternoon. There are still sixteen competitors left, dispatched into four groups of four.
In some way, these quarter finals reminded me of the quarter finals of the WSSA World Slalom Championship Battle (WSC Singapore, Dec.08), because of the difficulty to reach the semi final round… but Russian style (not Asian). The main difference being that the Asians care a lot about the general cohesion effect whereas the Russians don’t. Russian style, it’s more like juxtaposing ultra-technical tricks (90% of the cases it’s wheelings) without bothering about transitions to get this above-mentioned global coherence. Here Freestyle becomes a mere demonstration of amazing feats – a vision I respect (personal choices), and tricks I respect as well because the technique is really amazing (I tend to believe that back-to-front-to-back wheeling is the basic trick over there!)
Quarter finals
Group 1:
Viktor ‘Generator’ Meleshkevich (RUS, #26), Igor Cheremetieff (FRA, #1), Mischa Gurevish (RUS, #10), Georgiy Kresman (RUS, #65)
It’s Viktor Meleshkevich who wins the round thanks to – particularly – impressive wheeling combos (lines of back-to-front-to-back-to…), followed by Igor Cheremetieff, very well balanced but not impressive enough on his big tricks (don’t last long enough). Cheremetieff who was at the top of the group-chart, in qualifying second, get to the low-part of the chart (which means – just as for Polina Semenovas’s case for the girls’ semi-finals – there should be a strong group full of top skaters in semi-finals). Mischa Gurevich remains faithful to his fast-knitting freestyle, shows screws and chicken legs, but it’s not enough for him to go through.
Group 2:
Roman Gordin (RUS, #50), Nikolay Zaytsev (RUS, #NC), Andrey Shitov (RUS, #42), Xuan Le (FRA, #8)
Roman Gordin, the fifteen-year-old rastaman from St Petersburg, has an astonishing balance doing wheeling (you should see him launch back heel wheeling from stop). His demonstration of balance is far enough to get the first place of the group. There’s an hesitation for the second place whether it goes to Andrei Shitov or Xuan Le, and the skaters get a best trick for the judges to decide between them: it’s Andrei Shitov who will finally go through thanks to a wheeling combo (back toe to front to back on the 80s) at the expense of Xuan Le who misses doing 10x10 front to back heel wheeling.
Group 3:
Dmitriy Shevarutin (RUS, #64), Maxim Igaev (RUS, #44), Martin Sloboda (GER, #17), Denis ‘Disa’ Islamov (RUS, #63)
Martin Sloboda, the thirteen-year-old German, keeps on improving so fast (he has even improved a lot already since Battle M-Gladbach of mid-February): he qualifies in first position with varied and balanced performances and (big advantage here) transitions between combos: front-to-back wheeling (5x5), seven, Korean-spins, wheeling to sewing-machine, grabbed back heel chicken leg. The second place goes to Dmitriy Shevarutin, the winner of Battle SPB fond of butterflies on 50s, who shows set combos managed round after round with an interesting steadiness.
Maksim Igaev is promising, with original tricks which he fully masters (Christie spin) and a good balance, but he is still too messy which parasites the general impression. As for Denis Islamov, he’s got potential (cf. front toe wheeling-stop-back in back toe wheeling), but he missed his runs during this round.
Group 4:
Tiziano Ferrari (ITA, #7), Adrian Almazán (#38), Alex Shulhan (BRS, #70), Rudy Op’t Veld (GER, #4)
The fight for the distribution of the first and second places is between Alex Shulhan and Rudy Op’t Veld. R.Op’t Veld makes the most of his position of 4th to go to immediately answer back to Alex Shulhan, 3rd to go: If Shulhan does wheeling combinations… then R.Op’t Veld does too, but better! Shulhan plays all the cards he’s got in hand: his back footgun to back heel wheeling, his external spin doing footgun (artistic style, but still pleasant to watch), his jump at the end of the line Jumping Jack Flash Mode (a kind of 180 Zoulou)… not forgetting the “classics” like a six-cone seven… and he manages to rank 2nd behind Rudy Op’t Veld, as original but more balanced and precise.
Adrian Almazán and Tiziano Ferrari are technically too weak (though stronger in pure style and general impression) and are knocked out… nevertheless they fought well – cf. special one foot, toe seven, back-to-front wheeling, beautiful Korean-spins for Almazán.
Semi Finals
Group 1:
Viktor ‘Generator’ Meleshkevich (RUS, #26), Roman Gordin (RUS, #50), Martin Sloboda (GER, #17), Alex Shulhan (BRS, #70)
Martin Sloboda ends up first of the group thanks to a very more balanced general impression and a good technical content: wheeling games, compasses and Korean spins, sevens, kasakchoks.
It’s a little more delicate to decide for the second place, so that Roman Gordin and Viktor Meleshkevich are treated to a best trick. Meleshkevich manages ten cones doing jumped special one foot on the 50s, and Gordin manages wheelings (back-front-back-…) but slightly touches the ground with the other wheels around the three-quarters of the first line (after he does 50s and 80s again), so that only the part before the touching is taken heed of… It’s Viktor Meleshkevich who goes through.
Alex Shulhan’s performance is equivalent to what he did during his quarter-finals but it’s not enough to reach the final.
Group 2:
Igor Cheremetieff (FRA, #1), Andrey Shitov (RUS, #42), Dmitriy Shevarutin (RUS, #64), Rudy Op’t Veld (GER, #4)
Rudy Op’t Veld qualifies first for the final thanks to his technique, showing balanced and mastered runs – the whole 80s doing back heel wheeling, screws, sitting tricks, original combos of his own… nothing more to say.
Coup de theatre as for the second place: Dmitriy Shevarutin (winner of Battle SPB) ranks second in front of Igor Cheremetieff (winner of Battle Moscow ’08) and Andrey Shitov. Dmitriy deserves his second place: balanced back-to-front wheelings, sevens, and steady combos. Igor Cheremetieff, messier during this round, gets the third place, and Andrey Shitov ends up fourth.
Consolation Final
The group is made of Roman Gordin (RUS, #50), Andrey Shitov (RUS, #42), Alex Shulhan (BRS, #70), and Igor Cheremetieff (FRA, #1).
The competitors have two runs and one last trick.
Roman Gordin repeats himself from one run to the other with nearly exclusively toe wheeling games: back wheeling to special one foot to front wheeling, stabilization and back doing back wheeling (attempt on the heel on the first run, and on the toe on the second run); crossed compasses to seven to toe-toe spin to screws…
Tiredness is being felt for Andrey Shitov whose rate of success falls considerably. Nevertheless he manages a nice five-cone toe special one foot, a front-to back wheeling, a seven… but he repeats himself a lot too and misses many tricks attempted.
Only Alex Shulhan and Igor Cheremetieff make the most of their two runs in showing variety.
On his first run, Alex Shulhan does series of back-to-front wheelings on the 80s, goes to the 50s still doing wheeling, on which he does a nice combo of sewing-machine normal to switch opposite, and wiper to back footgun; on his second run he concentrates on the 120s with back footgun to back heel wheeling, footgun spin, jump at the end of the line, and finishes doing seven (but out of the line).
Igor Cheremetieff has difficulties to concentrate/de-stress (?) on his first run… still he manages 12 cones doing back heel wheeling and front-to-back wheeling; on his second run he also plays with sitting tricks (Christie to footgun spin) and manages a nice disaster 180 to toe seven on the little 80s – slightly out of the line though, as well as toe special one foot.
Last Tricks
1-Roman Gordin: series of front-back-front-etc. wheelings with transitions from one line to the other according to his mood.
2-Andrei Shitov: does a balanced combo of back-front-back wheeling (4x4x4) on the 80s with a transition on the 50s the four last cones of which he manages doing sewing-machine.
3-Alex Shulhan: on the 50s, lateral jumped footgun (strikes and fall in the end)
4-Igor Cheremetieff: takes up the wheeling challenge with back-to-front wheeling on the 80s, transition to the little 80s on the two last cones of which he does seven.
Final
The order to go is decided by the finalists as following:
1-Dmitriy Shevarutin (RUS, #64)
2-Viktor ‘Generator’ Meleshkevich (RUS, #26)
3-Rudy Op’t Veld (GER, #4)
4-Martin Sloboda (GER, #17)
1-Dmitriy Shevarutin, on the whole, does not as well as in Battle SPB (less clean)… amongst other tricks: twelve cones doing back heel wheeling on the 50s (instead of the usual twenty), butterfly to back toe wheeling, or to sewing-machine, a few sitting tricks, toe seven managing five cones, Korean spins to back crossed compasses.
2-Viktor ‘Generator’ Meleshkevich, the current Russian champion, does a demonstration of amazing feats in wheeling – special one foots (flowed and jumped), invert fishleg repeated three times (wow!), wheeling to back internal toe seven, seven to screw (changing the rotation!), and a few kasakchoks to vary…
3-Rudy Op’t Veld, truthful to himself, does home-made combos (but with less success than during the preceding rounds… tired?): his bulldozarian starting line managing twenty cones doing back heel wheeling on the 80s, two-cone back external seven, four-cone front seven, five-cone special one foor, Mario-slide to Korean spin (though a bit unbalanced), unsuccessful front wheeling-stabilized-back on the 50s, shy back footgun…
4-Martin Sloboda, seems in great shape, and tricks rocket from everywhere: special one foot and back seven both managing six cones, front-to-back wheeling 5x5, kasakchok front to back, toe wheeling to sewing-machine… and his amazing last run made of a 30-second marathon doing extremely balanced wheeling games (front-back) alternating between the 80s and the 50s!
Last Tricks
1-Dmitriy Shevarutin: Butterfly marathon managing the 50S, 80s, 50s again, and finishing doing toe crossed compass on the 80s.
2-Viktor ‘Generator’ Meleshkevich: ten cones doing jumped special one foot on the 50s (on his second try).
3-Rudy Op’t Veld: wheeling games… starts backwards on the 80s, to front after ten cones, to back again, goes on with the 50s where he does front-back-front, and goes back to the 80s where he stops after a few cones.
4-Martin Sloboda: (on his second try) toe wheeling games… three-quarters of the 80s doing front wheeling, makes up for his unbalance with a toe seven which he uses to transfer to the little 80s, goes backward on the last cones, then goes frontward again during his transition to the 50s – and ends up in the middle of the line.
Results of the Mens Battle:
1-Martin Sloboda (GER)
2-Dmitriy Shevarutin (RUS)
3-Viktor ‘Generator’ Meleshkevich (RUS)
4-Rudy Op’t Veld (GER)
The results of Battle Moscow triggers some significant changes in the World Ranking. Here are the main ones:
Igor Cheremetieff loses ground getting world #2 place, his former status of world #1 being seized by the Chinese Guo Fang.
The other way around, Martin Sloboda gains ten places and becomes the current world #6.
Rudy Op’t Veld remains at the world #4 place.
Viktor ‘Generator’ Meleshkevich goes from #35 to #13.
The most impressive progress is beyond dispute that of Dmitriy Shevarutin who goes from #100 to #28!
Useful Links
Complete Results
New March 2009 WSSA World Ranking
…Close Yr E’s
Paris, 20e Arr.
April 10, 2009