Technique and Tactics

The technique for inline speed skating is generally the same as the classic ice speed skating style. However, around 1992 the scene changed dramatically with the populariSation of a technique called the double push by the United States skater Chad Hedrick. The technique literally allowed for two pushes in each stroke of the skate. However, the technique can be tiring and even pro-elite skaters will often save it until it is really needed, such as the latter stages of a distance race.

Tactics in outdoor inline racing are similar to those of marathon ice speed skating and of road bicycle racing. Skaters tend to form packs or pacelines in which skaters line up behind a lead skater, thereby saving energy by skating in their draft. Sportsmanship requires that skaters in the paceline share the duty as paceline leader. Those who never take a pull at the front will likely find other skaters tacitly working together to defeat them.

During the course of a race skaters may make attacks, speeding up the pace in an effort to weed out the weaker and slower competition. These attacks may include breakaways and fliers, in which skaters try to create new smaller and faster packs or else to escape entirely from the other skaters. Depending on the length of the race and the skills and the cooperative effort of the chasers, these breakaways may or may not prove successful. If a skater escapes a pack in order to join a successful breakaway group, it is known as bridging up.

When skaters who are member of teams participate in a race together, they often have pre-determined roles. One or two would be designated attackers whose role it is to tire out the competition. Another skater may be the designated winner for the team, and they may avoid chasing any breakaways until late in a race, possibly until the final sprint if the lead pack has never broken up. Professional teams usually also include skaters whose role is to slow down the chase group when it looks like a team member is on a potentially successful breakaway.