India, Dec. 13 -- In September this year, at the far fringes of Indian sport, something exciting was happening for the first time. On the 15th, Anandkumar Velkumar, a 22-year-old athlete from Chennai, won India its first-ever gold at the Speed Skating World Championships in Beidaihe, China. He clocked just over one minute and 24 seconds in the senior men's 1000m sprint. That same day, 18-year-old Krish Sharma from Delhi won gold in the Junior category of the same race, rolling in at one minute and 22 seconds. Then, five days later, Velkumar won gold again, in the 42km skating marathon of the championship. And just like that, India had, for the first time, three top global honours in competitive skating. Getting a pair of skates, wheeling around the building compound or a dead-end street - no kneepads, no helmet - was the privilege flex of the 1990s. Nearly every kid had a pair of sturdy, size-adjustable JJ Jonex. In smaller cities, where there were bigger rinks, dedicated inclined tracks, fewer distractions, the sport quietly thrived. Inline skating (in which the wheels under each foot are set one behind the other, allowing for precise turns) became part of school sports. Bhagirath Kumar Dadhich, general secretary of the RSFI, says that India has more than two lakh skaters, male and female. "Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab are at the forefront." Who knew that little wheels could get us this far? Meet the skating champs who are reinventing their wheels for India. World Speed-Skating Champion,senior category The 1000m is one of the most unpredictable races in speed-skating. It's not a short 100m or 200m burst. It's not a 10,000m endurance test. It's just enough distance to showcase an athlete's energy, balance, speed and strategy. At the top tier, it's all over in under two minutes. So, for Chennai's Velkumar, every second mattered at September's Speed Skating World Championships. He'd been conserving his energy in the initial phase. But those last laps were when he sped forward, gliding past seven competitors for gold. "I'd just won bronze in the 500m sprint," he recalls. "It gave me the confidence for this race." He had other reserves too. Between 2021-2025, Velkumar won some 10 international accolades, including a gold and two silver in the Asian Championship. Sathya Moorthy, who has been training him since age 12, describes him as a smooth, versatile skater. "But in the last year, his performance has jumped from 70% to 90%." The computer-science student says he loves being on wheels. "It charges me up but also gives me a sense of freedom." But for the most part, Indian skating means constantly pushing against the odds. "I got financial support and reimbursement from the Tamil Nadu government only after returning with medals." World Champion, juniorcategory Sharma began roller skating at age four and switched to inline speed-skating in 2019 for competitions. Neither has been easy. "I used to travel 20km from my home in Delhi, five days a week, to my training centre," he recalls. Apart from gold at the World Championship in September, Sharma also won gold at the Asian Championship, in Seoul, South Korea, in July, and picked up two silver medals in the European Cup in Spain last year. India is proud of him. But life might actually have got tougher and lonelier for Sharma. "I'm no longer in the junior category and I'm training even farther away from home in Mohali," he says. The city has some of the country's best tracks. But training is intense, he's also pursuing a BSc in Sports Science, and hostel life is isolating. "I've given up much of my social and family life for skating. I don't know my own city properly. I miss hangouts with friends. Few people talk about what it takes to really dream big in this sport." Inline Freestyle Slalom champs When the Joshi sisters enter the skating arena, all eyes are on them. Their skills aren't honed for speed, but synchrony and grace. The moves are almost ballet-like: Rolling zig-zag through a row of cones, turning sharp corners like they got a free pass from gravity, manoeuvring through obstacles without tipping over. But freestyle slalom skating is anything but easy. It's easier to fall and injure oneself when trying out a new artistic move. "And the skating surface at each venue is different - wood, cement, wax-layered or ceramic flooring all affect how precisely you can speed up, swivel or stop," says Shreyasi. "At international competitions, we don't always know what the surface will be until we reach the venue. We carry different pairs of skates. And it's always a risk." Shreyasi, a 10-time national champion, is the first Indian woman to win two golds at the Asian Championships in July. Swarali is a nine-time national freestyle skating champion and has five international medals. Both fangirl over Spanish slalom skater Pau Bosch. But they're also using Instagram (@_Skater_Sisters) to connect with the world. Their handle has nearly 230K followers and features Reels of their work and the BTS. Most posts are filled with cheers, and young skaters who look up to them for inspiration. Silver in Asian Championship, July 2025 As a child, Matte suffered bouts of asthma. So, her parents enrolled her in swimming and skating classes to strengthen her lungs. She never thought of competing until her sports teacher in Pune encouraged her to join a professional club. That, and the family's move to Bengaluru in 2017, boosted her confidence. "Bengaluru is the hub for speed-skating; it has international-standard tracks and good coaches. So, when I joined a club there, I felt seriously motivated to train for tournaments rather than skating for fun and fitness." She did get over the asthma. And while girls her age chill with friends at multiplexes, restaurants and amusement parks, Matte obsesses over speed, endurance and execution. "Micro-seconds matter in speed skating," she says. Alongside she's also studying to be an orthopaedic doctor. Matte's favourite speed-skater is Ivonne Nochez from El Salvador. There are more young women to look up to in the sport now, she says and many more young girls who willingly spend their formative years practising intensely to become pro skaters. The sport, however, needs to put in a little more effort. "Currently, we have to manage our own sponsors. We need government support for international competitions." Bronze and Silver in Asian Speed-Skating Championship India's fastest inline speed-skater, Babu won bronze and silver at the Asian Speed-Skating Championship this year. His personal best speed: 17.59 seconds at a 200m time trial event at the Asian Championship. He was conferred the Karnataka Government's Kreeda Ratna Award in 2018, a rare feat for a skater. He's also the Indian skater with the highest number of gold medals, 34, in national events. "I first tried skating on my fourth birthday," he recalls. "Dad used to train me. I would practice for five-six hours every day." He grew up watching Italian skater Gregory Duggento and Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake beating their own best times and knew that patience and effort pays off. He's seen the sport evolve over the decades. For many in his generation, skating was a hobby. "Now kids have a competitive spirit right at the outset," he says. "Even parents realise unlike a team sport, performance is entirely down to their child's skills and training." None of the younger athletes has broken his records yet. Babu is still the fastest in the 100m and 200m time trials. "Breaking a record is not so easy," he says as he prepares for the Euro Cup circuit and the next Asian Championship....