As we have already announced we are about to create a new international work group for slalom under World Skate (WSK). With slalom racing as one of the official disciplines of WSK, we're now preparing for our participation at the World Skate Games (WSG) in Argentina 2022. WSG is a multi-sport, multi-discipline event organized by WSK every second year. At WSG 2022 there will be Vert, Downhill and Slalom for skateboarding, while Street and Park will have their own separate events. The dates for WSG 2022 are Oct 24 - Nov 13 and will be hosted by the cities of Buenos Aires and San Juan.
The qualification for these Skate Games is more formal than what we are used to in the slalom community.
And with a new year starting we want to present how it's going to work. National associations being the base of World Skate are a natural part of the Qualification, so we have integrated possibilities for them to determine who should represent each country.
There will be two classes: Men and Women, and no age classes.
There will be three ways to qualify for these classes:
a) The top 20 racers (20 men, 20 women) from the current world ranking.
b) Each national association can select and register 3 men and 3 women, in addition to the top 20.
c) Persons in countries with no national association can also participate.
The pandemic situation in the world is still in play, so it's important that you already start to plan for national qualifications to determine the top three men and women in your country. Here's what is needed in terms of preparation:
- Contact your national association for skateboarding.
- Prepare them for what is coming and your national slalom scene.
- Discuss ideas with them about how to make the rider selections (three men and three women) to represent in the 2022 WSK Games
- Remember that the registration for the games are done through the national association.
- To be selected you will probably need to be a member of the national association, so check how membership works locally (in your club and whether it's affiliated with your national skateboard federation).
For the top 20 on the world rankings, even though pre-qualified, they also need to register individually, to confirm their participation. The deadline has not yet been decided but we expect it to be two months prior to the WSG, so end of August or early September. For those of you who do not have any national association connected to World Skate contact ISSA and we'll help you check what options are available and help you register.
Finally to clarify the roles of the different organizations and joint efforts, here's an overview:
WSK (World Skate)
Although initially created in roller skating in 1924, it is now the official international sport organization for rollerskating, skateboarding and even kickbikes. It was needed to get skateboarding into the Olympic family and be part of the Olympic games in Tokyo 2021. Since then it has been decided to keep skateboarding in the Olympic Games for both Paris 2024 and LA 2028. Although we'd love to see slalom racing to one day be part of the Olympic Games, the road is still long ahead.
WSG (World Skate Games)
World Skate Games is like an Olympic Games every second year for all sports and disciplines in WSK (World Skate). For 2022 skateboarding will have the Vert, Downhill and Slalom disciplines represented at the Games.
Street and Park skateboarding is not attending WSK. They are fully occupied with the Olympics and qualifiers for the Olympics.
ISSA (International Slalom Skateboard Association)
Has been the international skateboard slalom association for decades. It has held together the slalom skateboard scene with organizing the yearly slalom events and world rankings. With its forum, website and social media it has kept the slalom scene rolling over the years. We are now joining forces with WSK so that all ISSA activities can migrate over to become WSK activities.
WSK Slalom Skateboarding Work Group
A slalom work group comprised of 3 people from WSK and the 7 members of our current ISSA BOD. This is the group who will speak for international slalom skateboarding into the future. The formalities of this group are being finalized and will be officially announced soon by WSK and ISSA.
World Championships
In the years when WSG is held that event is considered the World Championships for all disciplines participating. The other years "in-between" we'll hold separate Worlds for slalom racing, starting in 2023. They will eventually be sanctioned by World Skate but until those formalities are in place, we'll sanction Worlds through the ISSA as we have done in the past.
Continental Championships
There are plans for continental championships organized through World Skate, but it's unclear when and how they will be organized. The continents would be like for the Olympics: Americas (North and South america), Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa. In the mean time we will have, as before, North American Championships, European Championships and then nationals in Japan, Australia and Brazil.
Jani Söderhäll
ISSA President 2022
Jani Söderhäll - ISSA President: jani.soderhall@slalomskateboarder.com
Maria Carrasco - ISSA Vice President, North American Status Marshal: maria@slalomskateboarder.com
Joe McLaren - ISSA Secretary: joe@slalomskateboarder.com
Hans Koraeus - ISSA World Ranking Supervisor: hans.koraeus@slalomskateboarder.com
Michal Subrt - ISSA European Status Marshal: michal@slalomskateboarder.com
Bruno Oliveira - ISSA BOD member, South American Status Marshal: bruno@slalomskateboarder.com
Janis Kuzmins - ISSA BOD member: janis@slalomskateboarder.com