Barcelona Inline Recap
 
By Chris Mitchell
Sunday, July 24, 2005

Moll de Marina – The stands were packed with rollerbladers when the competition got under way. It was a European championship event with two Spanish, five French, one German, one Swiss and one Slovenian competitor. Steven Aleil held the 1st place position, but after a day of practice on the park course, a lot of rollerbladers were stepping up.

Stephane Alfano threw a 900 the wrong way over the box, and Bruno Lowe did a creative fakie line, but neither one was able to crack the top five. Mike Johnson ended up in 4th place with an amazing 540 to soul on the big quarterpipe. Ilia Koutchoukov blasted around the course. He threw a fakie 720 over the spine, and a truespin topside soyale down the shotgun rail to finish with a bronze. Anthony Avella threw more tricks than anybody – a 540 to backside down the shotgun rail, and an inverted 900 to name a few – to pull into second. And Wilfried Rossignol took the gold with his classic smooth style and a difficult trick list that included a 900 and a flatspin 540 transfer.

Viva la France!