Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles which use rolling either by gravity or various pushing techniques. Typically ball bearings and polyurethane wheels are used for momentum and traction respectively, and are attached to devices or vehicles that the roller puts his weight on. The international governing body is World Skate.
Roller sports include the following disciplines
Since 2017 World Skate has organised the World Roller Games, a biennial competition that now includes 11 world championships in one single event. List of events: [2]
Skateboarding events have been introduced for the 2020 Summer Olympics, with two events: park and street. [3] [4]
On the programme for the 2022 World Games there were four roller sports disciplines: Artistic, Inline hockey, Speed Skating Road and Speed Skating track. Roller sports is the only sport on the World Games programme represented in three clusters. Speed Skating belongs to "Trend Sports", Artistic to "Artistic Sports" and Inline Hockey to "Ball Sports". [5]
Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 countries worldwide.
Inline skates are boots with wheels arranged in a single line from front to back, allowing a skater to roll along on these wheels. Inline skates are technically a type of roller skate, but most people associate the term roller skates with quad skates, another type of roller skates with a two-by-two wheel arrangement similar to a car. Quad skates were popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while inline skates became prominent in the late 1980s with the rise of Rollerblade, Inc., and peaked in the late 1990s. The registered trademark Rollerblade has since become a generic trademark due to its popularity. To this day, "rollerblades" continues to be used in everyday language to refer to inline skates.
Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sidewalks, and bike paths.
Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a metal or plastic frame on the underside of a boot. The in-line design allows for greater speed and maneuverability than traditional roller skates. Following this basic design principle, inline skates can be modified to varying degrees to accommodate niche disciplines.
The Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports was the world governing body for roller sports, including skateboarding, rink hockey, inline hockey, inline speed skating, inline alpine, downhill, roller derby, roller freestyle, inline freestyle, aggressive inline skating, inline figure skating and artistic roller skating. It was established in April 1924 in Montreux, Switzerland by two Swiss sportsmen, Fred Renkewitz and Otto Myer, who had close connections to the International Olympic Committee.
Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by an international governing body called an International Federation (IF).
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports in the United States. It is recognized by the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) and the United States Olympic Committee.
Inline hockey or roller hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game and is considered a contact sport, but body checking is prohibited. There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time, while teams normally consist of 16 players. There are professional leagues, one of which is the National Roller Hockey League (NRHL). While it is not a contact sport, there are exceptions, i.e. the NRHL involves fighting.
Artistic roller skating is a competitive sport similar to figure skating but where competitors wear roller skates instead of ice skates. Within artistic roller skating, there are several disciplines:
The European Confederation of Roller Skating, currently branded as World Skate Europe, is a governing body of roller skating and inline skating in Europe. The World Skate Europe is a member of World Skate, formerly the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS).
World Skate Asia, formerly known as Confederation of Asia Roller Sports (CARS), is the main roller skating organization of Asia. World Skate Asia is part of the World Skate. Varieties of skating governed by the WS include:
Aggressive inline skating is a sub-discipline of inline skating in the action sports canon. Aggressive inline skates are specially modified to accommodate grinds and jumps. Aggressive skating can take place on found street obstacles or at skate parks.
The 2022 World Games, commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions that are not currently contested at the Olympic Games; the Games featured 3,457 athletes competing in 223 medal events over 34 total sports.
The World Skate Games are an international biennial multi-sport event, comprising all the world roller sport disciplines as regulated by the World Skate international federation. The games involve 11 World Championships in one multi-sport event.
The Roller Skating Federation of India (RSFI) is the national governing body for roller sports in India. The RSFI was established in 1955, and has been affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (now World Skate) since 1971. The RSFI was a founder member of the Confederation Asian Roller Sports (CARS) in 1978. The Federation was officially recognized by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in September 1990, and was subsequently recognized by the Indian Olympic Association.
Roller sports competitions at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru were held at the Polideportivo 3 (artistic), and Pista de Patinaje.
World Skate is the only governing body in the world for all sports performed on skating wheels. The organisation is the successor of the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) founded on 21 April 1924.
The 2025 World Games (2025年世界运动会), commonly known as Chengdu 2025, is the 12th edition of the World Games, which includes sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. It is expected to be held from 7 to 17 August 2025 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. This is the first edition to be held under the guidelines set by the strategy paper "Growth Beyond Excellence", the third edition to be held in Asia, and the first time for the nation to host the World Games.
Roller sports competitions at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile were held at the Velodrome (artistic), Skating rink and Urban Sports Esplanade (skateboarding).
| Artistic and dance sports | |
|---|---|
| Ball sports | |
| Martial arts | |
| Precision sports | |
| Strength sports | |
| Trend sports | |
| Past official sports | |
| Invitational sports | |
