Inline Speed Skating Champion

Shreyas, Grade 11, won Silver in the Team Relay, during the National Inline Speed Skating Championship organised by the Roller-Skating Federation of India. The Championship took place at an international track on the outskirts of Mohali in Punjab, undertaking all pandemic safety precautions. We contacted Shreyas to find out more about his skating and his achievement.

Speed Skating has helped me improve my self-esteem, teamwork skills, and be associated with a close community of peers and supportive parents – Shreyas, Grade 11

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Nationals was moved from December 2020 to April 2021. Before winning the Silver medal in the National Inline Speed Skating Championship, Shreyas had won two Golds and one Silver medal in the state selections held in March. After this he was selected to represent the State of Karnataka along with three others. “I like the format of relay in Inline Speed Skating as it demonstrates the coordination between the team members, and it is a lot more fun”, says Shreyas who is thankful for the great infrastructure and coaches in Karnataka which has won the overall Speed Skating Championship every year, with Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra slowly closing the gap.

Shreyas has been skating since the age of three. He started with a summer camp and continued to competitive events at District, State and National level. Up until High School, Shreyas attended International Camps and Competitions during the summer holidays, and has participated and won at Trois Pistes in France, and at Geisingen and Gross Gerau in Germany.

This year has been a difficult one for Shreyas and his skating. Before the pandemic he spent about 5 to 10 hours per week practising on roads and at the rink. This year, leaving the house to practise has been reduced only to the weekends. “It has been a difficult year for practise with the nationwide lockdown and taking up a demanding curriculum like IB requires more focus on academics”, says Shreyas who has tried his best to keep fit with daily exercises at home.

“I had no plans to attend this year’s competition due to tests and IB deadlines but made a last-minute decision to register for District selections”, says Shreyas who believed it would offer him a sense of respite from studying at home. Now he is very glad that he did!

Inline speed skating has been Shreyas’ passion for a very long time and he plans to keep it up for fitness and as a hobby – potentially shifting to ice skating in future.