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First round of the French Slalom Series

Le Havre, 9-10 May ‘09

FRENCH Version Available HERE!!

“Weekend de la Glisse”

The first round of the French Slalom Series (FSS) was held on the 9th and 10th of May in Le Havre, on the Esplanade of the Beach. It was part of the fourth edition of the event “Le Weekend de la Glisse” organized by the Sports Department of Le Havre. On schedule: demos, initiations, competitions in various urban sports, roller-skating, skateboarding, BMX, kite surf, funboard and urban cultures (street mural, hip hop…)

Organisation

The Battle competition unfolded on two days.

On Saturday the Speed Slalom was held (time-trials and KO systems, both womens and mens) as well as the first rounds of the Freestyle Battle (qualifiers and Amateur battle). On Sunday the resuming of the Freestyle with the Mixed Pro Category – it was mixed because there were only five girls amongst the thirty skaters who registered.

The Battleground was situated on the Esplanade of the Beach, on the promenade.

By the way to contradict all the wicked tongues and the prejudices, the weather was very sunny (though a bit windy but it’s quite normal on the sea-side) and I wonder who, of all the skaters there, didn’t hear “Hey you went skiing this weekend?” on Monday morning at work.

The spot was slightly slopy and there were little waves (on the asphalt, because in the sea it’s a fairly natural phenomenon)… but 1) Everybody is treated similarly so it’s no use complaining; and 2) Given the location of the spot (sea and public), the pros make us quickly forget about the little cons!

Skaters

Nearly all the competitors were French, except for two Belgians (Tim Shraepen and Pierre-Alix Colbrant) and one Austrian (Julian Buchieser). We all found accommodation in the same Youth Hostel… a holiday camp atmosphere, in a hardcore freestyle version – not mentioning the fire alarms setting off in the middle of the night and the giant pillow fights.

Amongst the skaters who were present: a big part of the Seba Team – Igor Cheremetieff, Xuan ‘King of Style’ Le, Fanny ‘the Swallow’ Violeau; Antoine ‘TotoGT’ Colange (winner of the Lugdunum Battle ’08) and Kyan Sanchez (winner of the ’08 KPKB video contest) from Lyon; the quad-skaters Emilien Holveck from Lille and Frédéric Feyt from La Rochelle; the Parisians Julien ‘the Charismatic’ Boucry, Sébastien Trocars (who already drew people’s attention to him during his first Battle competition at M-Gladbach last February), Boris Rozbroj the protégé of the King of Style… etc.

Speed Slalom

Time-Trials

22 skaters were registered, including 4 girls. The two time-trial runs of both categories were done at the same time – and though the KO Systems were not mixed, the participants were treated to a common final qualification ranking.

Only the first eight were kept for the KO Systems.

The first ranked in the qualifications (and also the last to go – by alphabetical order), is Sébastien Trocars with 5.31. He is half a second ahead of the second, Igor Cheremetieff, whose best time is 5.88.

The other times are above 6 seconds (because of cone penalties): following in the third and fourth qualification places Martin Violeau and Xuan Le with very close times (6.22 and 6.27)

The other four kept are (in the right order) the Parisians Boris Rozbroj, Julien Boucry, Cédric Diguere, and Chloé Seyrès… who left the place to the ninth, Nicolas Quedec from Le Havre (for the Mens KO Systems) – and Fanny Violeau on the heels of the latter.

Womens KO Systems

The women, being non-exhaustively four, started the KO Systems with semi-finals, the groups having been distributed according to the time-trial ranking.

Semi-Finals

The two semi-finals are won in two perfect runs by Chloé Seyrès and Fanny Violeau, who respectively knock out Marianne Rio and Céline Mailfait.

Final

Concerning the Final, there is more suspense: Chloé Seyrès touches the ground with her free foot on the first run (disqualifying mistake) and thus offers the advantage to Fanny Violeau; on the second run, Chloé Seyrès is slightly faster (in perfect) than Fanny Violeau (who knocks one cone): the two finalists tie, and the third run is going to be decisive… a third run during which Chloé Seyrès is again slightly ahead but kicks one cone too many (2 versus 1 for Fanny Violeau) and it’s Fanny Violeau who gets the advantage back and consequently wins the final!

Mens KO System

Quarter-Finals

No real surprise except for the third quarter-final group : Sébastien Trocars, Igor Cheremetieff and Martin Violeau qualify for the semi-finals in two winning runs against (respectively) Nicolas Quedec, Cédric Diguere, and Julien Boucry. A little more freestyle for the qualification of Boris Rozbroj who knocks out Xuan Le in three runs (doing a Heel Wheeling Speed Challenge for their round) – the moral is, it’s easier to strike doing wheeling than doing flat one foot.

Semi-Final

The first semi-final is won by Sébastien Trocars at the expense of Boris Rozbroj… a semi-final full of suspense as the two skaters lacked steadiness on this round: Sébastien Trocars gets the advantage on the first run, Boris Rozbroj having kicked 4 cones; Boris Rozbroj ties on the second run, Sébastien Trocars having kicked 5 cones; consequently both take great care during the decisive third run, do two great perfects, but S.Trocars is far ahead of B.Rozbroj (5.67 Vs. 6.00).

The second semi-final keeps spellbound all the same, opposing Martin Violeau to Igor Cheremetieff. They play a round with equivalent times and neat runs: a first run won by Igor Cheremetieff with a perfect slightly ahead of Martin Violeau (5.78 versus 5.81); times close to tie for the second run (5.73 versus 5.74) but with one penalty for Igor Cheremetieff, which makes him lose the advantage; and Martin Violeau cracks up on the third run kicking two cones while Igor Cheremetieff boosts and goes down to 5.59.

Consolation Final

It is won in two runs by Martin Violeau (two perfects with better times) who thus reaches the third place, relegating Boris Rozbroj at the foot of the podium.

Final

The two finalists are Igor Cheremetieff and Sébastien Trocars. A final unfolding in three runs: on the first run both skaters run around 5.5 but strike (respectively 4 and 6 cones), the first point thus goes to Igor Cheremetieff. Sébastien Trocars remains concentrated on the second run, does 5.5 again but more neatly (only one cone) and crosses the finish line before Igor Cheremetieff (5.62 with 2 penalities). For the third run, both risk their all and speed up: 5.42 for Igor Cheremetieff and 5.32 for Sébastien trocars… who kicks 2 cones.

Igor Cheremetieff then wins this Mens Speed Final.

Results of the Mens Speed Slalom

1-Igor Cheremetieff

2-Sébastien Trocars

3-Martin Violeau

4-Boris Rozbroj

Freestyle Battle

Hey Girl, Hey Boy, Superstar DJ… Here We Go!

The battle was mixed (women and men together) – and the DJs were super, really!

There were only 5 girls for 24 boys! Nevertheless despite their numerical inferiority they managed to get out with dignity while the going was good, since two of them (the SebaGirls, Chloé Seyrès and Fanny Violeau) reached the last rounds; Fanny Violeau ending up second of the co-final behind Kyan Sanchez, but in front of the Parisians Julien Boucry and Sébastien Trocars; and Chloé Seyrès ranking second of the competition behind Igor Cheremetieff but in front of Antoine Colange (personal message: I had  my revenge, we’re quits haha.) and Xuan Le who “fought with a bamboo stick” to quote his words (you’ll know why later on if you read the following).

As for the three other girls, they didn’t make it through to the quarter-finals and found themselves in the Amateur category: only Céline Mailfait from Lille will qualify for the second Amateur round – by the way at the expense of Marianne Rio who was in the same amateur quarter-final group.

Qualifications

The 29 participants were dispatched into eight groups, on Saturday afternoon. The qualified were ranked in the Pro Chart, programmed on Sunday, and the knocked out were treated to an Amateur Chart which unfolded immediately after the general qualification round.

The biggest reversal of situation happened during the second qualification group, where Julien Boucry the Charismatic and Frédéric Feyt the Mad Quadder, knock out Boris Rozbroj the Protégé of the King of Style and Jérémy Dubois the Korean enthusiast (I’m here alluding to spins). Let’s admit that this is possible for Jérémy Dubois who gets back into the swing of things after almost two years of break… but it was a general surprise concerning Boris Rozbroj whose original and promising style was an indication that he would not have been knocked out that easily.

Mixed Amateur Freestyle Battle

Quarter-Finals

The Amateur Battle started with quarter-finals in which we could find the 13 Amateur skaters.

End of the Battle for Marianne Rio and Luc Cirotteau in the first group, who get knocked out by Céline Mailfait and Boris Rozbroj. Please note the very smooth style of the newcomer Luc Cirotteau, who once he has fleshed out his technique (at present mainly made up of screws) won’t let his opponent get rid of him like that anymore.

End in quarter-finals too for Adrien Rouger, Joseph Crestin and Joëlle Harter.

Semi-Finals and Co-Final

Like a taste of déjà-vu for the results of the first group, as Boris Rozbroj – though favorite – gets knocked out (along with David Perrin) by Jérémy Dubois (his compagnon in misfortune of the general qualifications) and by the Belgian Pierre-Alix Colbrant (whose polo shirt I like very much).

Boris Rozbroj salvages something in winning the co-final, in front of Nicolas Quedec, David Perrin and Céline Mailfait.

Final

It’s Jérémy Dubois who wins the Amateur final thanks to his technique both daring and original (semi-circles unhooking from the line doing cobra, etc.) The second place goes to Emmanuel Laurent, followed by Pierre-Alix Colbrant, and by Emmanuel Ruellan.

Results of the Mixed Amateur Battle

1-Jérémy Dubois

2-Emmanuel Laurent

3-Pierre-Alix Colbrant

4-Emmanuel Ruellan

Mixed Pro Freestyle Battle

         Igor Cheremetieff stands out not only because of his technique – managing the whole small 80s doing heel seven, wheelings front-to-back, a little of spins (Koreans) and sitting tricks (kasakchok and spin footgun); but also because of his execution speed and his originality – 5.4 in the middle of the line, low back crossed compasses…

         The second to qualify is Antoine Colange, who shows technically varied performances, stylishly neat and composed (wheelings – still a little weak backwards; a good bunch of toe-toe Koreans – very well mastered; a Christie and a kasakchoc – to vary a bit).

Fanny Violeau ends up third, though she brought out the big guns with her sitting tricks (front and back kasakchoks and footguns, a back Christie managing the whole small 80s), though she managed some wheelings (10 cones doing heel wheeling) some spins (Koreans, Russian Voltes), all this livened up with an old-skool freestyle… and to p!nk’s Get the Party Started (yes, I’m jealous!!)

         Kyan Sanchez is fourth: despite his good execution speed, the muddled general impression and a lack of variety (too many attempts at wheelings) do a disservice to him.

Semi-Final #2

In the second Semi-Final we find: Julien Boucry, Sébastien Trocars, Chloé Seyrès, and Xuan Le.

It’s Chloé Seyrès and Xuan Le who win their pass to the final in ending first and second of the group.

         Chloé Seyrès does stylish runs with some technical peaks (3-cone chicken leg, seven, 7-cone back heel wheeling, front-to-back wheeling at the end of the 50s, heel-toe back crossed compasses).

         Xuan Le has some obvious difficulties in adapting his balance to his borrowed skates so that his wheelings are not as convincing as those during the last battles – nevertheless he manages 7 cones doing back heel wheeling (though it was more likely an attempt at doing 20 cones), and some small front-to-back wheelings; indeed he hides his adaptation problem quite well, particularly on his last run when he shows an amazing crazy freestyle.

         Julien Boucry ends up third of the group with a composed and smooth style (not as fast as his opponents), which still lacks big technical tricks.

         Sébastien Trocars, though more technical than Julien Boucry, ends up fourth – due to too messy parts: some losses of balance which spoil the finishing of some big tricks (after flat Koreans, or after a 3-cone seven), and a fall doing back kasakchoc. Please note: he is the only skater of the competition who has tried (and managed) back external seven and invert special one foot (4 cones, with the front foot).

Consolation Final

Kyan Sanchez ends up first of the co-final thanks to a better technical management ; he is followed by Fanny Violeau, who still puts the emphasis on sitting tricks; Julien Boucry ranks third of the group, his style giving a better general impression than that of Sébastien Trocars’ – who tried more technical tricks but striked a lot.

Final

Here is the order to go of the finalists: 1) Igor Cheremetieff – 2) Antoine ‘TotoGT’ Colange – 3) Xuan Le – 4) Chloé Seyrès.

On the whole, the performances of the finalists have a lower rate of success as those of the preceding rounds.

1-It’s Igor Cheremetieff who takes hold of the first place thanks to well managed big tricks (6-cone heel seven, 4-cone toe seven followed with a big spin, toe special one foot, heel wheeling front-to-back 15x4) done with an energetic freestyle (just as in semi-final, he does 5.4 at the beginning of his first run)… an efficient recipe which has already proved itself!

         2-The second place goes to Chloé Seyrès who gives the guys a forfeit as for sitting tricks with her first run (quasi-essentially on the 120s: spin footgun to kasakspin and back with back kasakchoc); her big tricks don’t last as long as those during the previous rounds (seven and chicken leg managing 2 spins), but mixed with some original stylish elements (kicks, jumps, American splits, déboulé), they are enough to get her in front of Antoine Colange and Xuan Le.

         3&4-Antoine Colange remains steady in his neatness and tactically plays on all counts (technical variety)… which enables him to rank in front of Xuan Le who, despite some really daring freestyles, doesn’t manage to do his big tricks properly (especially back wheelings).

         After the three runs, it’s time for last tricks: Igor Cheremetieff does a heel wheeling marathon (50s-during which he touches the ground, 80s, 50s again and stops after a dozen cones). Chloé Seyrès has a hard time doing a toe wheeling snail (because of the slopy ground) but still manages ‘til the end. Antoine Colange does heel-toe front crossed compasses on the 80s; and Xuan Le manages a dozen cones doing back heel wheeling.

Results of the Mixed Pro Freestyle Battle

1-Igor Cheremetieff

2-Chloé Seyrès

3-Antoine Colange

4-Xuan Le

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May 2009

Paris, 18th Arr.