News
Anatoly Matsukevich, 1957 - 2021 [RIP]
It is with profound sadness we've learned of the recent passing of Anatoly Matsukevich, Russian slalomer of Saint Petersburg, at the age of 64.
For those of you who may not have met or known Anatoly, he was THE number 1 Russian slalom, and on the local scene, he was pretty much unbeatable for a good number of years. Sharing his love for the sport across the former states of the Soviet union, the popularity of slalom racing spread, and eventually, younger talents in Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, Estonia, and Lithuania started reaching his skill level and occasionally leaving him a millisecond behind. For those who achieved that accomplishment, those moments are well remembered. And it didn't happen many times, in fact, they could certainly be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Who would have thought that such an American sport would, or even could, gain any popularity in the Soviet union in the 1980s? Somewhat surprisingly it did, even behind the old iron curtain. With no possibility of importing skateboards, millions of completes were made locally and these boards had amazing steering abilities, with high, unstable trucks with soft bushings.
These decks, from brands such as Rula, gave the locals an edge when it came to extremely tight slalom courses, and among the classic ones are 100 cones set 1 meter apart (just over three feet), probably nobody ever beat Anatoly in that discipline. The English were famous for tight courses, but in Saint Petersburg, Anatoly was pushing for ever more complex courses. And why put the cones in a line, when you can place cones put pretty much anywhere. The figure slalom discipline was invented, with cones placed at around 1 m apart, often in a somewhat symmetrical pattern. Anatoly excelled once again, with turns and elegant pirouettes unimaginable on any other type of skateboard.
When the first ISSA World Ranking was published in 1994 Anatoly became our first ever #1 ranked slalom racer. His perseverance and passion was officially recognized!
Other passions of Anatoly were windsurfing and snowboarding and he was teaching also in those sports. Active in snowboarding, Anatoly was handpicked to participate in the volunteer force at the 2014 Sotchi Winter Olympics where he was working the slopes preparing for the world elite in yet another slalom discipline.
With the revival of slalom racing in the 2000s Anatoly was once again back on the racing scene, and sometimes travelled to international events including several World Championships and European Championships. Although he would no longer be able to claim any victories his motivation and passion was always present.
Anatoly leaves behind his wife Nina, daughter Dina and son Slavik.
Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.
Legends never die!
Rest in peace, dear Anatoly.
Forum, racer profile:
Denis Kozhin, 1975 - 2021 [RIP]
Denis was an active slalomracer in the early 90's but later focused more on other sports such as water skiing and snowboarding. Denis returned to slalomracing in 2017 and raced in Madrid, Policka, Latvia as well as in several races in Russia during a period of 3 years.
During the World record attempt at 100 cones in 1995, Denis was second only to Luca Giammarco with a time of 20.50+two cones so 20.70 seconds and a second ahead of the rest of the riders. It would then take more than 10 years for anyone to come close, or beat those times.
Our deepest sympathies to his closest family.
Rider profile here with photos:
Ranking profile with results here:
Båstad 2021 cancelled - Båstad 2022 announced!
Message from the organizers:
We have long believed that we will be able to carry out the event that was originally meant to be the World Championships, but the Covid-19 situation in the world still makes it impossible for most riders to travel freely. We have now made the difficult decision to move the competition to August 5-7, 2022. Take care, and see you in Båstad 2022!
Have a nice summer wishes Mika, Viking, Viktor & Peter.
Båstad Skate Games
Mikael Hadestrand, Peter Menke, and Jonas Wikström along with the city of Båstad on the west coast of Sweden are preparing an event for us all August 6-8 that surely merits your attention although it can no longer merit a true World Championships title.
Due to COVID no events in 2020 or 2021 will have the usual status assignments (Major, Main, Prime ...) instead we're doing national rankings 2021 from the events that are held. Our logic is that people can't really travel freely thus we cannot encourage international participation and potentially put people at risk of this pandemic. If you feel safe (vaccinated, taking appropriate precautions, ...), then go out and skate, travel to races, and get back to the pleasure of slalom racing!
Registration is now open at: https://wcsbs.com/event/wcsbs-2021/
See you in Båstad!
ISSA 25-cone World Series 2021/2022 #1
First weekend session of the second season of ISSA 25-cone World Series!
Note! Organizers of local spot events need to pre-register. Check deadline!
25-cone session weekend.
Saturday-Monday, Jun 19-21.
It is still hard to hold regular international slalom events. But with the 25-cone slalom discipline there is a way around this. It is the next best thing we can do for the moment to gather everybody and compete virtually. We compete together the same weekend, running the same course but on different places around the world.
1. Before event - Sub spot organizers:
Connect your local race to the "ISSA 25-cone World Series".
Note for organizers! Be aware of registration deadline!
2. Event weekend:
Racing the standardized 25-cone event and slalom course format at your local flat spot according to the common rules.
3. Register times and cones for all racers.
Note for organizers! Be aware of on-line result registration deadline. Time deadline is according to the time zone of each spot.
Top 3 results: Monday 23:55.
Complete results: Tuesday 23:55.
4. After event:
Tuesday evening, after last official event result registration, all racer results from around the world should be complete.
Rules, Results, Pictures and more info on the homepages.
Event homepage #1 - Event leaderboard #1
This year we're suggesting two courses, the first one being the original (unchanged) course set up first started by the NCDSA forum 20 years ago. The second course is a special slalom alternative that is challenging and requires additional skills, yet is easy to set up starting from the regular 25 cone course. Here's a description of how you set it up:
ISSA 25-cone World Series 2020/2021 #4
Fourth session of the ISSA 25-cone Slalom event!
Note! Organizers of local spot events need to pre-register before 1-month deadline.
Fourth session weekend.
Saturday and Sunday, Jan 23-24.
In these pandemic times it is hard to hold regular international slalom events. But with the 25-cone slalom discipline there is a way around this. It is the next best thing we can do for the moment to gather everybody and compete virtually. We compete together the same weekend, running the same course but on different places around the world.
1. Before event - Sub spot organizers:
Connect your local race to the "ISSA 25-cone World Series".
Note for organizers! Be aware of registration deadline!
2. Event weekend:
Racing the standardized 25-cone slalom course at your local flat spot according to the common rules.
3. Register times and cones for all racers.
Note for organizers! Be aware of on-line result registration deadline. Time deadline is according to the time zone of each spot.
Top 3 results: Sunday 23:55.
Complete results: Monday 23:55.
4. After event:
Monday evening, after last official event result registration, all racer results from around the world should be complete.
Rules, Results, Pictures and more info on the homepages.
Event leaderboard
Facebook event homepage
ISSA BOD 2021
Jani Söderhäll (SWE) - President
Maria Carrasco (USA) - Vice President and North America Status Marshal, head
Hans "Corky" Koraeus (SWE) - Ranking Supervisor
Joe McLaren (USA) - Secretary
Michal Subrt (CZE) - European Status Marshal, head
Janis Kuzmins (LAT) - BOD member
Bruno Silva Da Oliveira - BOD member
North American Status Marshals:
Maria Carrasco (USA)
Jack Andros (USA)
Chris Cousineau (CAN)
European Status Marshals:
Michal Subrt (CZE)
Tezzan Redman (SWE)
Lukas Mehler (GER)
South American Status Marshal:
Bruno Silva Da Oliveira (BRA)
Australian Status Marshal:
Bernie Griffiths (AUS)
ISSA Volunteers and specific responsibilities:
Jonathan Harms (USA) - Treasurer
Jonas "Yoda" Wikström (SWE) - ISSA YouTube Channel
Jean-Philippe Bouckaert (BEL) - ISSA Video Manager
ISSA 25-cone World Series 2020-2021 #3
Third session of the ISSA 25-cone Slalom event!
Note! Organizers of local spot events need to pre-register before 1-month deadline.
Third session weekend.
Saturday and Sunday, Oct 17-18.
In these pandemic times it is hard to hold regular international slalom events. But with the 25-cone slalom discipline there is a way around this. It is the next best thing we can do for the moment to gather everybody and compete virtually. We compete together the same weekend, running the same course but on different places around the world.
1. Before event - Sub spot organizers:
Connect your local race to the "ISSA 25-cone World Series".
Note for organizers! Be aware of registration deadline!
2. Event weekend:
Racing the standardized 25-cone slalom course at your local flat spot according to the common rules.
3. Register times and possible cones for all racers.
Note for organizers! Be aware of on-line result registration deadline. Time deadline is according to the time zone of each spot.
Top 3 results: Sunday 23:55.
Complete results: Monday 23:55.
4. After event:
Monday evening, after last official event result registration, all racer results from around the world should be complete.
Rules, Results, Pictures and more info on the homepages.
ISSA event homepage
Facebook event homepage
ISSA 25-cone World Series #2
We're repeating the June Covid-19 ISSA Cyber Slalom event! Let's make this even bigger and better.
Second virtual session weekend.
Saturday and Sunday, August 22-23.
1. Set up a 25-cone slalom course with your local friends.
2. Send in the results during the same weekend.
3. By Monday morning official results from around the world.
Rules, Results, Pictures and more info on the homepages.
ISSA event homepage
Facebook event homepage
ISSA 25-cone World Series
In these difficult times it's impossible to hold regular international slalom events. But with the 25-cone slalom discipline there is a way around this. It's the next best thing we can do for the moment to gather everybody and compete virtually.
First event kick-off during the "Go Skateboarding Day" weekend.
Saturday and Sunday, June 20-21.
1. Set up a 25-cone slalom course with your local friends.
2. Send in the results during the same weekend.
3. By Monday morning official results from around the world.
Rules, Results, Pictures and more info on the homepages.
ISSA event homepage
Facebook event homepage
