Rollerclub Cup 2014

The russian main event was held in Moscow, on July 25-27. The Rollerclub Cup included all the disciplines : speed slalom, battle and also classic and slides. Like each year, the title for the best overall skater was awarded, the one who would score the best total results in most disciplines would win the Rollerclub Cup at the end. 

The competition was scheduled on three days. On Friday, it was Speed Slalom and Classic Junior, on Saturday, Senior Classic and Slides, and on Sunday, Battle Men & Women. 

Junior Classic

The first day of competition was dedicated to the juniors' classic freestyle. The youngest skaters showed an incredible level, which was high enough to compete with the adults. Russians Sofia Bogdanova (#37) and Gleb Velikanov (#82) won the junior's classic freestyle contest just like one year ago. S.Bogdanova was the star of the day, showing a great performance with a high level tricks. 

WOMEN'S JUNIOR TOP-5:

1. Bogdanova Sofia (Rus)

2. Granjon Lily (Fra)

3. Bamatter-Rodriguez Olga (Rus)

4. Mokeeva Elena (Rus)

5. Smirnova Anna (Rus)

MEN'S JUNIOR TOP-5:

1. Velikanov Gleb (Rus)

2. Skurikhin Vyacheslav (Rus)

3. Lazarev Mikhail (Rus)

4. Burmistrov Egor (Rus)

5. Vornovitskiy Daniil (Rus)

Junior Speed Slalom

Lily Granjon (Fra, #6), who performed the best qualification time (5.419 sec), and Vyacheslav Skurikhin (Rus, #79), who took the first place one year ago, won the junior's speed slalom contest.

Lily Granjon : The level was very high, i had no chance to make any mistake because the Russian skaters were very clean. It's never easy to win so i just did my best to be focused and make clean runs. It was one of my favorite competitions, even though there were not so many participants in the junior category, the best were present and it is the most important. The competition was really cool, high level and good skating conditions. I hope to come back next year. It's a competition to recommend to all skaters!

WOMEN'S JUNIOR TOP-4:

1. Granjon Lily (Fra)

2. Bamatter-Rodriguez Olga (Rus)

3. Bogdanova Sofia (Rus)

4. Smirnova Anna (Rus)

MEN'S JUNIOR TOP-4:

1. Skurikhin Vyacheslav (Rus)

2. Burmistrov Egor (Rus)

3. Volnenko Alexander (Rus)

4. Lazarev Mikhail (Rus)

On the same day, were held the seniors speed slalom competitions and the first big surprise for the podiums of Rollerclub Cup 2014. 

Speed Slalom Women

Kristina Lysenko (Rus, #10) won the Speed Slalom final against Zoe Granjon (Fra, #5). Showing the best qualification time (4,996 sec) K.Lysenko made two clean and fast runs in the final and got the victory. The world number one in Speed Slalom Barbara Bossi (Ita) lost in the semi final against Zoe Granjon (Fra, #5) and took the third place in the consolation final against Paulina Czapla (Pol, #25).

Kristina Lysenko : "The level of this event was quite high. The main opponents for me were Barbara, Zoe and Klaudia. Usually, i don't think about the victory during the competitions. The most important for me is to fight against myself, to be more self-confident, to believe that i can win. The main goal for this year for me is a successful performance of my students on the WFSC. If they show a good results that means i did my job well."

WOMEN'S TOP-4:

1. Lysenko Kristina (Rus)

2. Granjon Zoé (Fra)

3. Bossi Barbara (Ita)

4. Czapla Paulina (Pol)

Speed Slalom Men

Opening the new concept of the French Team: to win the disciplines that is not usually your best, Romain Lebois (Fra, #9) took the first place of the Speed Slalom Final against the world number one, Simone Nai Oleari (Ita). It may be explained by the lucky combo of two important facts : R.Lebois tried to do his best and to make clean runs, as usual, while the others were stressed and, even being faster, kicked too many cones. First run was for S.Nai Oleari with a clear run and a time of 5.047 sec. The second run was for R.Lebois, who made a good time and kicked less cones than his opponent. In the third run, the italian kicked 3 cones and let R.Lebois win the final with a fast and clean run. Tiziano Ferrari (Ita, #22) won the consolation final against Roberto Rosato (Ita, #26).

Romain Lebois : "I didn't expect to win the speed slalom contest. Usually, i focus on 6/7 places so it was a big surprise for me. I tried to be clean and fast and i made it well."

P.S.  How did you feel to be the second?

Simone. Great! I planned very well all trainings to compete and to do my best. The one, who thinks that there's not so much training in the speed slalom will never be able to keep the podium. This was my 5th podium of 6th total competitions that I did in Russia! 

P.S.  Why you think you were second?

Simone. Because my opponent did better than me in the final. Trainings are important to keep high my skating level to each condition. This time I was feeling the floor a bit slippery among the cones and for this I was losing easily the balance, but despite this and thanks to my preparation I've been able to reach a good second place also in this competition. 

P.S.  How was the level? 

Simone. As every 3 cones event, it was definitively not an easy competition because everyone fought to be on the podium. Beside this I think the level of the other skaters is made by up and down during the year due to many factors, impossible to list now, and that time was a good period for some of them like Romain. He did a good job. 

P.S.  How did you like the event? 

Simone. It was super! It was very well organized in every aspect. Starting to the help that I (and the others too) got to move to and from airport, to the awesome help that all the organizers gave to the skaters. Also the timetable was something unbelievable great because scheduled very well. I definitively recommend to go to compete in Russia next year because it is worth it! 

P.S.  Some words you want to leave after this competitions? 

Simone. Yes! Beside the competition this year it was my birthday! Thank you everybody for the wishes and the gifts that I got. Chocolate and homemade sweets were very nice and the Rolleclub skate bag is super cool!! Russia always brings me a lot of luck and good experiences. If I could rate this competition I sure give the highest score. 

MEN'S TOP-4:

1. Lebois Romain (Fra)

2. Nai Oleari Simone (Ita)

3. Ferrari Tiziano (Ita)

4. Rosato Roberto (Ita)

The second day was devoted to senior classics and slides. No surprises for the Classic podiums. The young russian star  - Daria Kuznetsova (Rus, #2) and  Sergey Timchenko (Rus, #7) won the Classic competitions.

Freestyle Classic Women

Since 2011, it's the fourth victory in the row at the Rollerclub Cup for D.Kuznetsova. She made a perfect fast and clean run, linked to the music. All the tricks were landed well and only one cone was kicked. Maryna Boiko (Ukr, #4) showed an interesting choreography with a high technique level and took the second place. Olga Semenikhina (Rus, #7) who is not competing that much as a last year, but still plan to come to the Europe and World Championships, started her season with the third place of the Classic. Stress of the first competition of the year didn't let Olga went higher than 3rd step of the podium. She made a good dynamic run, but didn't land well all her tricks. Zoe Granjon (Fra, #5) ended up fourth. Her run was linked to the music and quite clean but she missed some of her important tricks. Young and potential Anastasia Zenkova (Rus, #22) made a smooth and clean run and got the 5th place. Angelika Prucnal (Pol, #8) showed a fast and clean run with an interesting transitions and tricks. She didn't kick even one cone and made a good performance linked to the music. She got the 6th place. Unfortunately, Klaudia Hartmanis (Pol, #3) couldn't show her best this time. Because of the slippery floor and competing stress, she missed too many tricks and transitions and finished only on the 7th place.

Maryna Boiko : " I didn't expect to be second. I had no time to train but did my best anyway. I did only half of what i planned but luckily it was enough to get the silver medal. I liked Dasha's and Olya's runs, that was interesting to see. Too bad Klaudia couldn't show her best. I hope, next time she will make it better."

WOMEN'S TOP-5:

1. Kuznetsova Daria (Rus)

2. Boiko Maryna (Ukr)

3. Semenikhina Olga (Rus)

4. Granjon Zoé (Fra)

5. Zenkova Anastasia (Rus)

Freestyle Classic Men

Just like one year ago, Sergey Timchenko (Rus, #7) won the Classic freestyle competition. He made a fast, clean run with very high level tricks and transitions. Linked to the music, his performance was the best with no doubts. He perfectly made all the tricks, mixing the technic with an interesting dancing moves. The public favourite, Alexandre Claris (Fra, #5) showed a great level as well. His very stylish and smooth run with hard tricks perfectly executed with the music was good enough to take the second place. Romain Lebois thanks to his technical skills ended up third. Michał Sulinowski (Pol, #4) showed a fast and dynamic run with many interesting moves and high level tricks. Unfortunately, he missed some of his tricks and took the 4th place. Alexandr Timchenko (Rus, #8) made a very stylish and impressive run but missed too many tricks to fight for the podium. He finished on the 5th place.

Alexandre Claris : This year Rollerclub Cup was included in a long tour, which started with Battle Warsaw, then Conero Battle and finally Rollerclub Cup. This event was the last of the tour and it finished good for me ! I knew that i could expect a good result in classic but there were many skaters with really good runs so the thing was to do it perfectly to reach the first place... I did it very well but i finished second because of a great performance from Sergey ! So i can be only proud to be second !  But for the next event i will try to make it better, to look better on cones, to give a good feeling to the public and to the judges !

MEN'S TOP-5 :

1. Timchenko Sergey (Rus)

2. Claris Alexandre (Fra)

3. Lebois Romain (Fra)

4. Sulinowski Michał (Pol)

5. Timchenko Alexandr (Rus)

Slides

No surprise for the Women's Slide Contest. The leader of the women's world ranking, Olga Fokina (Rus) took the first place. The world number two, Natalia Krykova (Rus) ended up second. Yulia Korolyova (Rus, #12) finished third.

WOMEN'S TOP-4:

1. Fokina Olga (Rus)

2. Krykova Natalia (Rus)

3. Korolyova Yulia (Rus)

4. Provalenko Daria (Rus)

The Men's Slide contest brought the second big surprise of the Rollerclub Cup 2014. Alexandre Claris (Fra, 99) won the Slides battle leaving behind him all the slides favorites. This is one more example what may happend if you are doing you best when your opponents couldn't concentrate to execute their best tricks. A.Claris who has improved quite fast in the slides this season, made all his runs clean and well, his opponents didn't show their best and paid the price. Vladimir Demidov (Rus, #8) took the second place. The world number one, Kirill Ryazantsev (Rus) ended up third.

MEN'S TOP-4 :

1. Claris Alexandre (Fra)

2. Demidov Vladimir (Rus)

3. Ryazantsev Kirill (Rus)

4. Burenin Anton (Rus)

Women’s Freestyle Battle

The third day was dedicated to the Battle. Since 2012, Daria Kuznetsova (Rus, #2) got her third battle victory on the Rollerclub Cup. She showed a highest level with many tricks (christy footgun on the full 120, long back seven, day/night, back toe foot gun, heel shift for all 80), hard combo (butterfly to toe day/night to toe shift on 80) and 26 toe seven as last trick. Klaudia Hartmanis (Pol, #3) finished second. She made good runs with  high level tricks and combos ( toe shift to toe front to toe back to toe shift on 50, cobra back to toe chicken leg, back toe footgun, heel shift on 80, heel and toe sevens, front toe footgun on the whole 80 and toe shift to toe chicken). Her last trick was double toe chicken on 80. Zoé Granjon (Fra, #5) took the third place. She showed good runs with the whole 120 line in back toe footgun, front toe footgun on 80, heel shift to heel day/night on 80, toe back to toe day/night to toe shift to toe day/night, toe shift on 50 to toe seven on 80. Her last trick was the external shift on 50. Maryna Boiko (Ukr, #4) finished fourth. Her tricks were heel shift to heel day/night to heel seven; front toe footgun for all 80, back toe footgun on 120, butterfly to toe spin on 50 and the long transition from toe seven to toe day/night to toe seven as the last trick.

Zoe Granjon : The competition was awesome! I really enjoyed! The level was high, there were many strong girls who impressed me, like Dasha, Klaudia and Marina but also new Russian killers like Sofia, Anastasia and Ksenia! But I got my place in the big final and it was my objective so I'm really happy! I did my best to get a place on the podium so finally I am satisfied about my performance.

WOMEN'S TOP-4 : 

1. Kuznetsova Daria (Rus)

2. Hartmanis Klaudia (Pol)

3. Granjon Zoé (Fra)

4. Boiko Maryna (Ukr)

Men’s Freestyle Battle

Timchenko brothers were on the top of the Battle final. The Classic champion, Sergey (Rus, #7) took one more victory. He made a clean perfect runs, showing many hard tricks and combos. Toe back to back toe footgun on 120, toe shift to toe chicken to toe shift to toe spin on 80, christie footgun to front toe on 120, heel day/night to seven to shift, back christie footgun on 120 and 20 cones of toe seven as the last trick. His brother, Alexandr Timchenko (Rus, #8) finished right after Sergey. He showed a high level as well with many tricks (back toe footgun on 120, toe day/night for almost all 80, front toe footgun on 120), good transitions (heel shift to heel day/night, toe shift to toe seven) and three lines of heel shift on 80 as a last trick. Alexandre Claris (Fra, #5) took the third place. Front toe footgun on all 80, toe shift and back on 50, heel day/night to heel back seven, long toe day/night and 22 toe sevens as the last trick brought him bronze for this event. Romain Lebois (Fra, #2) ended up fourth. He made some good tricks : front christie toe footgun on 80, front toe footgun, heel and toe sevens, toe transition from shift to day/night but no last trick as he fell down twice after 5 cones of back toe christie.

Alexandr Timchenko : That was a difficult Battle, because almost all the most powerful european slalom skaters were there. Also, the skating conditions were very good and everyone could show all the best. 

It was quite difficult to go through the semi-final, and I'm very happy I was able to do it. Unfortunately in the final all the riders made some mistakes. If we talk about me, I'm happy with my last trick, which allowed me to take the second place. I am glad that my brother and I managed to take two first places, we have been going to this for a long time. 

I was impressed by my little brother, who is growing  from competition to competition, and by Lorenzo Guslandi as well, who showed an incredible connections on toe. 

The competitions were held with a very good atmosphere, thanks to the organizers, participants and audience.

MEN'S TOP-4 :

1. Timchenko Sergey (Rus)

2. Timchenko Alexandr (Rus)

3. Claris Alexandre (Fra)

4. Lebois Romain (Fra)

The Rollerclub Cup for the best skater of the event went to Sofia Bogdanova (Rus) and Vyacheslav Skurikhin (Rus) in the kids category and to Daria Kuznetsova (Rus) and Romain Lebois (Fra) in the adults.

Daria Kuznetsova : The competitions were organized very well, too bad that the time went so fast! It's so strange now to train at the same place where we were competing just few days ago. I was impressed the most by... myself! I did not expect to win the two main disciplines and to take the cup as the best athlete. 

I want to thank my coach, Vladimir Tkachev, all the organizers and volunteers at the event and the participants for the competitions, support and good mood!

Romain Lebois : The level was very high, an amazing tricks and transitions! A great opportunity to learn new things. I didn't expect at all to get the overall prize BUT with Alex we were in small fight to get it. And it's really awesome to make it and i'm very proud of it ! I never got the overall prize, if i remember well, during my career. I was also very impressed by Sergey with his very good combination of tricks and Alex with his totally not expected first place in slide ! I really love this event like usual, one of the best for sure... each year Moscow battle makes me very happy and smily !!! All skaters were very friendly. Thanks a lot to the organizers for making this event so great and thanks a lot to TimTeam for their help!

Check the full results here...