Roller sports
Roller sports cover four disciplines on wheels. Speed skaters race on inline skates on a banked oval or a road circuit, always anticlockwise, over sprints or in packs. Artistic skating is skating to music, judged much like figure skating on ice. Inline hockey is four skaters and a goalkeeper a side with a puck, and rink hockey four rink players and a goalkeeper on roller skates with sticks and a ball.
New to roller sports? Start here
Which to watch first, and how long
Start with Speed. A race: the first over the line, or the fastest time, wins.
- Speed
- Short races from 100 m to 1,000 m, and longer races on track and road
- Rink hockey
- Two halves of 25 minutes (seniors)
- Inline hockey
- Two periods of 20 minutes with a 5-minute break
- Artistic
- A short program of 2 minutes 45 seconds and a long program of 4 minutes
Lengths are from the rule book.
The big events, and why they matter
- 1World Skate GamesThe world titles in every roller discipline at one event.Every 2 years (Italy 2024) · Holder: Italy first with 20 golds
- 2Asian Games (roller sports)Asia's multi-sport title.Every 4 years; held in 2010, 2018 and 2022; in 2026 only skateboarding was held · Holder: Chinese Taipei 7 of the 10 roller golds
- 3The World Games (roller sports)The multi-sport Games for sports outside the Olympics.Every 4 years
India
India won four Asian Games bronzes: Anup Kumar Yama in the men's free skating and, with Avani Panchal, the pairs (2010), and the men's and women's 3000 m relays (2022). At the World Skate Games India won 2 silvers and 2 bronzes in 2026 and a bronze in 2024 [the two pages].
- World Skate Games: 2026: 2 silvers and 2 bronzes; 2024: 1 bronze
- Roller sports at the Asian Games: 4 bronzes: Anup Kumar Yama in the men's free skating and, with Avani Panchal, the pairs (2010); the men's and women's 3000 m relays (2022)
Countries to know
India and the nations that have done best, biggest titles first.
- IndiaRoller sports at the Asian Games: 4 bronzes (latest 2022)
- Chinese TaipeiRoller sports at the Asian Games: 13 golds, 6 silvers, 6 bronzes (latest 2022)
- United StatesRoller sports at the World Games: 20 golds, 17 silvers, 8 bronzes (latest 2025)
- ItalyRoller sports at the World Games: 21 golds, 13 silvers, 7 bronzes (latest 2022)
- South KoreaRoller sports at the Asian Games: 5 golds, 6 silvers, 6 bronzes (latest 2022)
- ChinaRoller sports at the Asian Games: 2 golds, 6 silvers, 4 bronzes (latest 2022)
Who runs it
| Rules made by | World Skate, the rules for each discipline, among them the General Rules for Artistic Skating (2026) |
| International federation | World Skate |
| In India | Roller Skating Federation of India (RSFI): recognised, on the MYAS list for 2026 |
Where and when it is played
Speed on tracks of 175 to 200 metres and road circuits of 350 to 500 metres; rink hockey on a 40 by 20 metre rink. The big events: the World Skate Games every two years and the Asian Games, which held roller sports in 2010, 2018 and 2022.