Bayside Blogs

Hey Everyone!

My name is Jesse and I am a Freestyle Slalom Skater riding for Bayside Blades and FR Skates. In October 2023 I flew to China to compete in two competitions, the 19th Annual Asian Championships and the Inline Freestyle World Championship. Across the two competitions I competed in a total of ten events and came away with my best results yet!

First up was the Asian Championship. The competition was held in Beidaihe which is a costal province in the north east of China.
Beidaihe is a tourist town that thrives through out the summer, when we arrived I found the area to be quiet and calm, not at all what I expected China to be like.
We had a couple of days to settle into the environment and train before the competition started, I felt nervous to begin with but as I got to skating my comfort and confidence came straight back!

On day one of the event we opened with Speed Slalom and Battle Slides. These events are extremely popular and the competition is very difficult, I was able to place 15th in Speed Slalom and 9th in Battle Slides, Both these results were in the middle of the pack. This did a lot for my confidence as these two events I expected to struggle but I got through it and posted results I was very happy with!

On Day two it was another big day where I had to compete in Freestyle Classic and High Jump.
I was particularly excited for my Freestyle Classic routine as I was working on it for about 3 months and it was finally time to show the hard work off to the judges.
During my performance I was able finish with a cone penalty which is a very good score, there was one other skater that scored only penalty and he went on to win the event. I was the first skater for the day so setting the bar is always tricky but I knew I set a strong performance that would stay on the board for a while! I ended Classic 9th place only losing out to the very best skaters in the world.

Later in the afternoon I was back for High Jump where I managed to secure 3rd place and the first medal for Australia!
This was a really good battle where I was pushed to my absolute limit. The skater I was battling from India was selected to make the final jump of 117cm first, all I could do was stand there and watch as he made his attempt. He clipped the bar at the set height and sent it to the ground, as that happened I felt a strange wave of calm come over me as I knew exactly what I needed to do and thankfully I managed to get the jump cleared in just one attempt securing the medal.

This was a crazy feeling as I knew I had just scored Australia it’s first medal in a Freestyle event ever! That is an acheivement I will keep with me for the rest of my life.

After all of the craziness I still had one event to go to close out the 19th Asian Championship and that was Freestyle Battle.
This event is full of the hardest skating and best tricks Slalom skaters have to offer, Unfortunately I was knocked out at the top of the first round by the current world champion Zhang Hao. I Skated well and finished battle in 9th place over all.

The Asian Championships will be an unforgettable journey where I was able to stay right in the middle of the competition with a highlight in High Jump!



From Beidaihe I travelled to Shanghai for the Inline Freestyle World Championships.
This event was a different level, the best teams in the world were there in force and ready to compete!

We only had one day of official practice to adjust to the floor but thankfully the surface didn’t change between Beidaihe and Shanghai so the team felt pretty confident straight away.
Kicking off day one we opened the event with Speed Slalom and High Jump. I was able to place 15th in Speed slalom again and 7th in high jump. This was a phenomenal result for me as I was going up against the gods of the sport! It was an exciting first day where we saw multiple world records broken in the speed slalom and High Jump. Most notably the new high jump record is 172cm set by Senegals Dame Fall, it was amazing to see, it actually makes no sense how a human can jump so high.

On day two I had Battle Slides which I was able to finish 13th, during the competition I was able to put down two new slides which got a lot of love from the other skaters, it was such a fun competition and definitely one of my favourite events!

After the Battle Slide competition the Team surprised me for my birthday by taking me out for traditional Chinese Hot Pot, It was the coolest experience to have my birthday in China and I am so grateful for everyone I got to spend it with!

Days three and four were exciting to say the least, it was time for Skate Cross.
I was nervous but excited for skate cross as it was going to be a real test of my whole skating range. Training and practice was eye opening and I was lucky to have the Ice Cross legend Luke “Aussie Crasher” Webb skating with me helping get the feel and flow of the course. Without him I think I’d still be stuck out on the track somewhere.

The course was long, physically demanding and incredibly technical which was going to make for some interesting racing.

We kicked off the racing with team cross where Luke and I were locked into the 3rd place battle against Japan, After an extremely tight race and almost a big crash we crossed the line in 4th, this was a great finish for us and something I am really proud of. We were able to push an experienced team to the absolute limit which I know with more practice we could beat.

Then to close out the event we had the Individual races, I was knocked out in 11th over all and Luke went on to secure 8th. It was a tight race but he is a tricky bloke to get past!
I learnt so much in two days of racing and that is something I will take away and continue to practice.

I am so insanely proud of the team and myself for getting to the end of this journey!
I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that donated to help me get to China, without you I would not have this story or all of the great memories I now have.
I would also Like to thank Finn and Yuki from Finnskate for all of your work managing the team and making sure Australia had the appropriate official representatives in China.

Lastly I would like to show my love to Bayside Blades and FR Skates for constantly supporting my skating journey!