Because the 2022 World Skate Games have left a historic positive balance for Argentina

Argentina hosted, between 24 October and last Sunday, the most important event of wheeled sports, the World Skating Games, which held its third edition in our country, the first with this new name. Some 7 thousand athletes from 80 countries they gathered for nearly three weeks to play ten world championships, with competition in 32 different disciplines. An impressive event that left a more than positive balance sheet for the national delegation.

“It was a party on wheels,” he commented Daniele Venturapresident of Argentine Skating Confederation chatting with clarion. “In sports, the performance of our athletes has exceeded expectations.

The albiceleste athletes won 16 medals, eight gold, three silver and five bronze, the best harvest in the history of the event. In the first edition, Nanjing 2017, had obtained two golds, three silvers and six bronzes. And in the second, Barcelona 2019only five silver and one bronze.

The medal table won it Colombia, which added 20 golds, 14 silvers and 11 bronzes. second left Italywith 16, 30 and 16 respectively. Y Spainwith 16, 12 and 14, he completed the podium.

The highlight of the Biancoceleste delegation came from roller hockey Y Figure skating.

Argentina swept away that first discipline, which was held in San Juan, the cradle of this sport in our country. National teams became world champions in three tournaments: the U19 masculine and the elderly males Y female. The boys of Sub 19 beat Italy 4-1 in the final; Las Águilas, the senior women’s team, beat Spain 3-0 in the duel for the title; and the senior men’s selection, 4 to 2 to Portugal.

“The three golds make us an absolutely powerful country in hockey. We had lost the finals in Barcelona in 2019 and it was very nice to win those titles again,” Ventura reflected.

“What has been achieved in figure skating has been a great joy, because we have added three gold medals and finished third as a nation. It is one of the best championships in the world in recent years and we are in the midst of a change For that reason, being third is a great position,” he added.

In the artistic field, gold medals were obtained in the trials of Show large grouphand in hand with the Millennium team, and in higher accuracywith Roller Dreams, e Junior, with Shiric. And two silvers and three bronzes were also collected.

Lucca Guaita14 years, the gold was hung in the Junior category of the test parking area from roller freestyle onlinein front of the Chileans Santiago Anuar Osses Y Javier Castro Orrego. Besides, it was silver Street.

ken kuwada, Juan Cruz Livolsi, Nahuel Schelling Y Santiago Romec the champions were consecrated in the men’s relay Speed ​​skating. The national quartet finished second in the final behind France, but the French were disqualified and the Argentines finished on the podium ahead of Chinese Taipei Y Colombia.

Kuwada also took bronze in the individual 1,000m race, behind Tsu Cheng Chao of Chinese Taipei and Italy’s Duccio Marsili.

“In sprint, another sport that is being replaced, we took gold after many years and finished among the top six countries. This is also very positive,” Ventura said.

“Also, in women’s line hockey we finished fourth and the senior team entered the playoffs (Editor’s note: eliminated Canada, one of the candidates, in the quarterfinals, lost against France in the semifinals and against the United States in the duel for bronze). And we also had very good performances in Downhill and Skate, a sport that still has a lot of development in Argentina,” he continued.

And he closed: “In general, the expectations are more than met and we are very happy with it”.

Public support and a boost to the future

The success of the World Skate Games in Argentina is not only due to the historic performance of the national athletes. Ventura highlighted the great work done from an organizational point of view and the excellent response from the public, which gave a very special setting to each race.

“These games have been a big challenge, beyond the fact that we have had the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Sportsof the Secretary of Sport of the Nation he was born in ENARD and also the government of Saint John, who showed great commitment to the event, and many volunteers and leaders. We had planned this event for 2021, but it was then postponed, and we had a pandemic and the economic crisis that our country is experiencing, which has had an impact on the budget”, recalled the president of the POSTAL CODE.

And he added: “When Argentina confirmed the event, we had to motorise it in three months. That was the big hurdle we had to overcome. Sometimes, a national federation has difficulty holding a World Cup, and here there are 10 World Cups with 30 modalities. We drew all kinds of vicissitudes, but we managed to celebrate some very good matches”.

According to official data, the event attracted almost 17,000 spectators in the three venues of the event -Buenos Aires, Vicente López and San Juan- during the three weeks of action. The most popular sports? Figure skating and roller hockey.

“The artistic exploded in the Olympic Park, with five thousand spectators in the stands and many people who were unable to enter due to capacity. In the Aldo CantoniIn San Juan, the hockey finals and semifinals were played with more than 8,000 people in the stadium,” Ventura said. Public TV. We are very happy with people’s response.”

Now it will be up to management to know how to build on the success of these games for the future. And from the CAP they are confident that the impact on sport will be very positive.

“This is a very strong driver for the huge growth of the sport. The World Skate Games has a large urban capacity, which is what is coming. The go skateboardingthe scooterthe freestyle online… are all sports that young people choose. Now we will have the responsibility to transform many urban athletes, who were not born in the institutional framework, and to forge them into high-level athletes,” Ventura reflected. “Argentina has a great human and sporting capacity and a hellish potential in the disciplines on wheel. We hope to be able to grow a lot nationally.”