Powerslide steals the limelight at the 2012 Berlin Marathon
The 2012 edition of the Berlin Marathon will most certainly go down in history, because of exceptional weather conditions, because of the number of registered skaters, and last but not least because of Powerslide's raid on the men's and women's podiums…
Par alfathor
A French victory on the greatest marathon in the world
Just imagine 6846 skaters lining up on for the start of the Berlin Marathon: a small town on wheels! Lots of skaters had made the trip to take part in that exceptional race. And they were not disappointed, the fine weather enabled the competition to unfold under the best conditions. The skaters were so many that waves were implemented in order to optimize the stream, just like in running races!
Quick report on the men’s race
Ewen Fernandez managed to escape from the pack before being joined by Bart Swings. The two skaters are going to be almost 2 minutes ahead and cross the finish line hand in hand. The rest of the Powerslide armada temporized in order to let its leaders go.
As for German Félix Rijhnen (Powerslide Matter), he wins the sprint of the pack. For the record, he is the first German to manage to reach the podium of that German competition! New-Zealander Peter Michael (X-Tech) manages to take the 4th place of the general ranking without any team-mate to help him.
The race seen from the lead by Ewen Fernandez, the winner of the competition.
« For this 2012 edition, I was wearing the number 1 jersey thanks to my victory of last year. I then wanted to honor the jersey and keep my title won last year…
Before the race, with all my team, we have decided to skate for Bart, who is the best of us all and the leader of the team. Then, the tactic initially implemented was to take Bart to the final sprint…
But as you know, you never know what is going to happen in a race and you often have to adapt or change the initial plan!
During the first part of the race, I had to do nothing, that is to say, stay in the slipstream and follow the attacks of Peter Michael (X-Teach) or those of the Swiss with Severin Widmer and Nicolas Iten (Swiss Skate Team) in particular… without skating in order to kill any attempt and pace myself in case that Bart would have a soft shot.
As for Bart, he spent his time attacking. But none of his attempts enabled him to break away. Halfway through the race, I had more or less the green light to attack… It was hard for me not to be active! Then, Félix launched me on an attack with Iten and another Swiss in my slipstream. I took over and nobody could follow me. Here I am, having a hard time just like last year!
But, seeing that nobody could follow me, Bart decided to catch up. When I saw him behind me, I waited for him to break away with him! And here we go until the end!
4 km from the finish, we decided to speed up in order to break the record of Joey Mantia set in 2008, as there were 6 minutes left for only 4 km, which was clearly doable. We complete the marathon in 1h and 4 seconds, i.e. 29 seconds faster than the previous record.
For my second victory in Berlin in two years, I set a new record with the help of my team mate and leader Bart Swings. He showed all his gratitude for the work I did for him during the whole season in leaving me the victory on that great marathon as a thank-you gift… Thus a BIG THANKS to him!
Félix wins the sprint of the pack quite easily against Peter Michael and Lorenzo Cassioli, for a historical Powerslide Matter hat trick.
The whole team was very strong and it is the key to success, it was also the last race of a great Skater, Scott Arlidge who ends up his career with the biggest marathon of the world! »
The women’s race: Powerslide doubles its advantage
In the Women’s competition, here again, you witness a historical scenario. Three German skaters are on the podium! Sabine Berg (Powerslide Matter) wins the sprint in front of Jana Gegner (EOSkates) and Katja Ulbrich (GB Racing Team). The opponents could only be ranked after a massive final sprint. Sabine Berg had to fight hard to win against Jana Gegner who held on until the end. The photo finish was needed in order to decide between the two women.
Jana Geger’s race
« Only two skaters of the GB Racing team broke away and livened up the race. The two breaks were counter-attacked by Powerslide. During the final sprint, the positions changed a lot. Francesca Lollobrigida and her team skated hard. After the Brandenbourg Gate, I passed four girls from Powerslide and Lollobrigida. I found myself behind Sabine Berg. I speeded up and we found ourselves neck and neck. I end up second with a great photo finish, I was 10 or 20 meters away from winning! »
Main results
Men’s scratch ranking
| Pos. | Name | Country | Team | Time | |
| 1) | Fernandez, Ewen |  |
(FRA) | Powerslide/Matter World | 01:00:04 |
| 2) | Swings, Bart |  |
(BEL) | Powerslide/Matter World | 01:00:04 |
| 3) | Rijhnen, Felix |  |
(GER) | Powerslide/Matter World | 01:02:48 |
| 4) | Michael, Peter |  |
(NZL) | X-TECH MPC International | 01:02:48 |
| 5) | Cassioli, Lorenzo |  |
(ITA) | Alessi World Team | 01:02:48 |
| 6) | Ramali, Etienne | |
(GER) | Vi-G13 | 01:02:48 |
| 7) | Spruyt, Ferre | |
(BEL) | Vi-G13 | 01:02:48 |
| 8) | Galliazzo, Stefano | |
(ITA) | Alessi World Team | 01:02:48 |
| 9) | Ramali, Pascal | |
(GER) | Vi-G13 | 01:02:48 |
| 10) | Widmer, Severin |  |
(SUI) | Swiss Skate Team | 01:02:48 |
Women’s scratch ranking
| Pos. | Name | Country | Team | Time | |
| 1) | Berg, Sabine | |
(GER) | Powerslide/Matter World | 01:14:13 |
| 2) | Gegner, Jana | |
(GER) | EOSkates | 01:14:13 |
| 3) | Ulbrich, Katja | |
(GER) | GB Racingteam | 01:14:13 |
| 4) | D’Annibale, Sofia | |
(ITA) | Team A BONT Italy Rivier | 01:14:13 |
| 5) | Strüver, Tina | |
(GER) | GOLZE-Girls | 01:14:14 |
| 6) | Lollobrigida, Giulia | |
(ITA) | Alessi World Team | 01:14:14 |
| 7) | Zielke, Carolin | |
(GER) | TSuGV Großbettingen / GB | 01:14:14 |
| 8) | Peißker, Jenny | |
(GER) | RSV Gera | 01:14:14 |
| 9) | D’Annibale, Maria | |
(ITA) | Team A BONT Italy Rivier | 01:14:14 |
| 10) | Schimek, Laethisia | |
(GER) | Powerslide/Matter World | 01:14:14 |
Links
Translation: Chloé Seyres
Photos: organization, Nicolas (Roll’Air France), all rights reserved
Video: Nicolas (Roll’Air France)
