GAME-CHANGING FINAL FOR FIRS ROLLER FREESTYLE WORLD CUP

 

A new competition style rocked the roller world Sunday at the FIRS Roller Freestyle World Cup in Chengdu, China as the series winner missed the podium and a man with the biggest air vaulted to first place.

The athletes had two 50-second runs to assemble a show of their professional artistry, then each got an additional four chances, immediately following their runs, to take things one step further with their biggest and best trick.

“Usually, it’s three rounds and the average of the two best count, which is good, but you can’t show all the aspects of what you can do because you can’t go that hard in a single run,” said Julien Cudot, FISE Roller Freestyle series champion for 2016 and now 2017.

The concept is designed to get riders to push themselves and progress the sport, by concentrating on the hardest thing they're capable of and risking it all, after they’ve already completed the majority of their work—and turned Sunday’s competition on its head.

 

French rider Yuma Baudoin found himself in first place, while his friend and the series leader, Cudot, finished off the podium, owing largely to those final big tricks. 

“I’m into airtime, so it’s not really a big disappointment, and it’s a friend of mine who has won,” said Cudot, adding “I hope the competition format continues this way.”

Baudoin, a university biology student, brought a 540 true-spin top soul and 1260, three-and-a-half rotations, in the best trick component. “It’s awesome. It’s a big, big competition with lots of riders, so it’s awesome to win this,” he said.

 

Stay tuned! FISE will announce its 2018 calendar in early December.

 

 

1. Yuma Baudoin, FRA watch his run

2. Joe Atkinson, GBR watch his run

3. Stephane Torres, SUI watch his run

 

Watch the replay of the final :