This past weekend was the third edition of the Arena Geisingen International. Taking its traditional time slot one weekend before Gross Gerau it always provides super fast, and very intense racing. 2012 the level was raised even higher because of so many visting Colombians and National teams such as Italy. Powerslide and Matter were once again a dominant force in all the categories.

Junior Men:

This was the season debut for our brand new junior team. Mario Valencia, Boris Pena, Livio Wenger and Thimo Kiesslich showed experience beyond their years to take control of every race they skated. Their first race of the weekend, the 5,000m points race was a demonstration in team work. With the best Italian juniors present, the boys were a little worried, but they had nothing to fear. Livio Wenger won the points. Mario Valencia won the Dobbin Sprint. Boris Pena won the elimination, and Boris won the 500m. They also took the top three positions in the overall ranking.

Senior Ladies:

Again team work was the theme here. Luisa Agudelo took control of the overall ranking with a tough victory in the 10,000m points race. Then after qualifying for the 500m final she looked almost sure to win the overall ranking, but a crash ended those chances in the elimination. Luisa then showed pure class by pushing world sprint champion Jercy Puello all the way to the line in the 500m. So it was an up and down weekend for Luisa, and she ended up 3rd overall. Katharina Rumpus showed that she will be one of the strongest Juniors when she lines up at Euro’s and Worlds later this season. She gave all she could for her team leader. And our new edition to the team all stepped up the world team ranks, Laethisia Schimek was impressive making it through to the 500m against some of the best sprinters in the world.

Senior Men:

Senior men was a real dog fight between the fastest sprinters in the world, and strongest long distance skaters which set the stage for an exciting overall battle. The PS/Matter World team was clearly behind their new captain from the start, Bart Swings laid down some impressive flying lap times, sitting just behind Colombia’s two sprint starts; Andres Munoz and Pedro Causil. The 10,000m points race was really only between two skaters. Bart Swings and Fabio Francolini broke clear early on, and they gained so many points they’d never be caught again. Bart went on to win yet another points race. Bart was most nervous about the 500m. Out of all the events, its the one that he knew would cause the most problems for his overall chances. With all the qualifying rounds before the elimination, and then the final of the 500m after the elimination it gave PS the chance to try and take some of the sting out of the pure sprinter’s legs. PS wanted as tough of a race as possible, which they got. Felix Rijhnen and Ewen Fernandez controlled the race to perfection, and that allowed bart to hit the after-burners at 2 laps to go for another win. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to stop an impressive Andres Munoz from taking the overall victory.

Bart was full of praise for his team via Twitter: “The PS/Matter team was going strong in our first track race together! Promising for the up coming weekends”, and he was also impressed with his new G13 wheels ” And 2 new best lap times here in geisingen for me. 14.044 and 14.018! Next year or maybe later his season 13.9? #Matter G13″

Thanks to Gerhard Schwierz for the pictures.

Full results can be found here: http://www.arena-geisingen.de/fileadmin/user_upload/2012/agi_2012/ArenaGeisingenInternational_2012_Gesamtrangliste.pdf

1. Kalon, this year at the European Championships you had your first official appearance as Swiss National Coach. You followed the races now from another point of view. Did you like that?

Yes this was my first official appearance as the Swiss National Coach and I loved it, I am a very passionate person and when I am coaching I feel there is a part of me out there racing with my athletes. I learnt a lot from my experience at the European Championships, many good and some bad but one thing I can say is Switzerland is going to move up the European Country Ranking.

2. Since the retirement of Alain Gloor and his sister Nadine or Raphael Pfulg there was not a lot to celebrate for the Swiss skaters at European or World championships. In this year I think we saw a little step forward. How did you carry it off?

I feel Swiss Skating made a big step forward this year, with Livio winning 2 Gold and 2 Bronze medals but biggest step I feel was made in Swiss Skating was the change in mentality of the Skaters and Parents, in regards to the Belief and Commitment that it takes to become one of the best track skating nations in Europe and the World.

I think that I was able to achieve this by passing on my knowledge and racing experience, I have come from a small unrated skating nation, so I could pass on what I have learnt.

3. You weren’t present at the Europeans in Italy with the Cadet’s and Junior B but you should know the young skaters quite well. What do you think about their potential, is there another skater who could bring home medals for Switzerland?

Yes I know all the young skaters, I train them once a week in Weinfelden as part of the national training. Lucas already brought home a Bronze medal this year and I think its only the start for Swiss skaters to bring back medals for European Championships.

But with all the current Cadets and Junior B skaters we have, I see potential in each and every one of them, now its my job to help them reach their potential.

4. Let’s talk about the Worlds in Korea. They didn’t run how you wanted. You got an injury in the 200m qualification race. What happened exactly and did you recover from your injury?

Yes my Worlds did not go to plan but that is competition at the highest level, I was feeling very good leading into the 200m and felt I had a good chance to do well but off the start I pulled my left groin muscle and was not able to continue racing.

I am 90% recovered now and back into full training.

5. You won eight World titles and more than 30 medals in your career if I’m right informed. What is your motivation to keep on skating?

I have be lucky enough to win a lot of Medals and World Titles during my career, but I think my secret for staying motivated is the thrill of the speed and the enjoyment of Winning! And I haven’t lost any motivation to keep going, if anything I have more than before.

6. Let’s watch backwards. How did you start with skating and did you already realize as a junior that you could be once one of the best Inline-Skater ever?

I started skating with my Brother Shane and as two young boys we just wanted to race, that naturally moved me into racing and its history from there on. I had always dreamed and wanted to be the fastest skater on the planet, if you are going to do something do it right. But one thing I didn’t realize as a junior was how much work and training I had to put it for that dream to come true. But trust me its all been worth it!

7. In your long career you skated with other great athletes, Gregory Duggento, Jorge Botero and for sure Chad Hedrick just to mention some big names. Was there someone who impressed you particularly during your career?

I have been lucky to skate at the highest level of our sport for close to 17 years now and I have been fortunate enough to skate with some of the greatest skaters in the History of Skating. Each and every one of the greats and legends of our sport have impressed me and influenced my own skating career in so many ways. The main ones would have to be, Tony Muse, Ippolitto Sanfantello, Jorge Botero, Desly Hill, Chad Hedrick, Derick Parra, Keith Turner and Alain Negre.

Well the more I think about it, you could take the top 3 skaters from every distance at the world championships for the past 20 years because I have either studied them and learnt from all of them.

8. I think you are in a transition period actually, you are still skating, you are trying to go on ice and you have also a job as Swiss National Coach. How do you manage to juggle these three activities?

I believe that doing all three of these things make me better at each one of them, you learn so much from each, with this I gain a greater knowledge for each activity.

9. This year at the European Championships I noticed that many of your former colleagues and counterparts from the inline scene have now become national coach. Alain Nègre and Arnaud Gicquel in France, Jorge Botero in Belgium, Massi Presti in Italy or Desley Hill, Holland. This is also the path that you want to pursue?

For sure when I finish racing I can see myself in a full time coaching role, I love coaching and seeing skaters achieve their dreams and goals. We are all the first generation of “Inline” skaters to start coaching and I know we all have so much to teach!

10. In my opinion the Inline-Sport is in a difficult situation actually, I could use also the word “crisis”. The boom of the nineties and the beginning of the last decade is over. The World Inline Cup has lost his importance and it’s getting harder to live as professional Inline-Skater. You are sharing my opinion or you see also positive aspects, which can bring forward the sport?

I agree with you 100%, Inline Skating is not in a good place right now but I can see some very positive things happening within our sport at the moment. The European Cup is one thing that has been needed for many years and I can only see it become stronger and stronger, the heart of our sport is track and road racing and it is great to see a “Cup” but in place for it to grow.

NSC in the U.S.A is doing its part to grow in a different direction and I know that they will be very successful and great for our sport. In negative times people look for positive solutions so I know our sport will bounce back to become even stronger than before.

11. As you mentioned it there are two types of competitions in Inline Skating: there are the marathons and on the other hand there are the track and road-competitions. What do you think, in which way the sport will develop and what is your device for the young skaters in Switzerland, how and where they should train?

Indoor, Track and Road racing is where every skater should learn their skills as an Inline Skater. I am a firm believer that every skater should know and compete in every aspect of the sport from Track racing to Marathons, from sprints to long distance.

History has proven time and time again the all time greats of our sport have been Champions in every type of Competition.

Kalon, we thank you for this interview and we are looking forward to see you again in Europe and especially in Switzerland.

“Powerslide thanks Rudy Wegner and skate in magazine for the interview. Check out more in their April, May, June issue. Out now”

I have been here in China for the last 10 days on one of my regular Powerslide business trips in order to take care of several current and future skate projects. Our China distributor informed us a few weeks ago that a team of 4 retired Chinese plan the challenge of their life. They wanted to cross China from the south to the north  – on skates.

 I was lucky to hear at my final day here in Xiamen that the “Powerslide XXL Senior China Team” has arrived in Xiamen and that our distributor is going to have dinner together with them tonight. A mix of surprise and excitement can explain my feelings well to meet those crazy guys.

 Who ever was in China knows that you have to be kind of crazy to do this. It’s the mix of bad road conditions, heavy and dangerous traffic in the cities, air pollution that makes the trip to the thrill of your life – no matter which age you are. But for sure this is just one side of China. You have beautiful landscapes, quietness and overall great hospitality all over the country which gives you a lot more back than you spend.

The evening arrived and we went to a nice Taiwanese restaurant. The four skaters arrived a short time later fully dressed in Powerslide skating gear proudly wearing the colors of their Sponsor. They did not know that someone from Powerslide was there and were surprised to see a western person at the dinner.

 We had a great chat during a delicious dinner and I learned that all of them come from the north of China. They have been ice skaters since their early childhood, but only the 60 year old Zhigang Cui took it a bit more serious and was the champion of his province. They started inline speed skating just four years ago after they went into retirement. The crew in the age of 60 to 65 years enjoy their life now and started to plan this trip back in October 2011. They keep fit by doing sport exercises every day since they finished to work  and even stopped smoking to get ready for this journey.

The 4 athletes take it easy. They don’t want to break records or try to be fast – they want to enjoy the trip and set the target to skate the round about 7000km across China in around 100 days. They want to see the country and take their time for sightseeing. One member of the crew rides a bike and carries all the belongings of the team for this trip. Each member of the expedition only carries max. 3kg of clothings or other daily needed items.

 Here in Xiamen they finished about 20% of their trip already. They have started Sanya City in the Hainan province on March 8^th. Sanya is in the absolute South of China, located on a small island. They plan to arrive in Mohe City (means North Pole) in the Heilongjiang province on the border to Russia.

 The evening passed by much too fast and it was a great pleasure and honor for me to meet and chat with these chinese embassadors of our sport.

 They love to skate!

 Juergen Pfitzner, Powerslide productmanager

Map of china showing you the start and final destination of the expedition

pictures of the 4 seniors

Mr Fushun Duan, age 64 from Beijing

Mr Jijin Wu, age 65 from Hebei – he rides the bike to carry all gear

Mr Kesheng Wu, age 60 from Heilongjiang – the organizer of the tour

Mr Zhingang Cui, age 60 from Hebei

Meet and greet in Xiamen together with Mrs Alice Pan (Taiwan) – the Powerslide distributor for China and good friend of the company

chatting with the guys  taiwanese cuisine dinner