Dear friends, here we are! 2020 is coming and we are ready for our first Olympic Games: next summer, Tokyo will witness the debut of our Federation in the most prestigious and sought-after sports event!

Intense months are ahead of us with the Olympic qualification season #2 ruling the roost in the first half of the year and a packed schedule of events taking our athletes on a journey around the world, on the road to Tokyo 2020. The new year will also witness the World Championships of Inline Hockey and Inline Speed Skating in Colombia, Freestyle and Skate Cross in China, Artistic Skating in Paraguay, the Freestyle Roller Cup and more. We are planning new event formats to give the public, and especially the youth, the chance to see and learn more about our sports all over the world: the Artistic World Cup and the Marathons Circuit are key projects in this regard. Many others are underway and will all bloom in the next years.

New initiatives and consolidated projects, such as the Roller Games that have struck our chords in 2019, share a common goal: conveying to everybody the unique values of a multi-sports Federation characterized by an innate urban soul, able to entertain children and young people.

When looking back at the last few years, I must say that our journey till here has been thrilling and full of emotions. We have experienced together hopes, disappointments and victories. We are all athletes - an athlete remains an athlete even after he/she retires - and we know this is how the world of sport works. And that's how life works. We fought, we fell and we stood up back again. Our resilience has paid us off with recognition and Tokyo will be our reward!

For this reason, I can only think of 2020 with a smile: the best is yet to come!

I wish you a happy holiday season with your loved ones,

Sabatino Aracu

World Skate President

Click on the video for a throwback to greet 2019 and welcome 2020: Enjoy & Share