2019 World Roller Games ~ Barcelona, Spain

This year, I was fortunate enough to be selected to represent New Zealand at the 2019 World Roller Games held in Barcelona, Spain. I was super excited as my dream of attending the World Championships was coming true! During the lead-up to the competition, I trained three times a day, even leaving school at lunchtimes to get some extra training in with my coach Bill Begg. 

Despite having a couple of setbacks, such as having the flu the week before I went and spraining my ankle within the first couple of days of training in Spain, all of my hard work and everything came together for race day. I was very nervous before my events as I wasn’t used to racing against the sheer number of people. Racing in such big groups, at such a fast pace, was an unforgettable experience. I learnt so much about the sport such as different lines to take through the corners and new tactics. I also met many new people and made loads of friends! Watching the world’s best skaters perform was truly amazing and I was able to meet some of my idols! 

I achieved good results for my first World Championships as I made the finals in my best three events and ending up placing 25th in the 10,000m points/elimination on the track, 22nd in the 10,000m points/elimination on the road track and 20th in the 15,000m elimination on the road track. All of this inspired me to train even harder and gave me more motivation towards getting even better results at next year’s World Championships. Now I have set my goals high and cannot wait to achieve them. I had such an unforgettable experience and I would like to thank everyone who made it possible!