Singapore win two silver medals at Inline Skating World Championships
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Tan Jing Yuan wins silver in the freestyle slide senior men's category at the 2025 Inline Freestyle World Championship.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE ROLLERSPORTS FEDERATION
Joel Chang
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- Tan Jing Yuan won silver at the Inline Skating Freestyle World Championships in the Senior Men's Freestyle category. He aims to improve and become world champion in the future.
- Dean Kang, 14, also secured silver in Freestyle Slide. He plans to continue competing in 2026, and eventually spread his love for the sport to others.
- Both Singaporean skaters achieved their medals in the Freestyle Slide category at the inaugural championships, which included 370 athletes from 32 countries.
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SINGAPORE - Tan Jing Yuan’s journey in inline skating began on the ice, where the former JCube employee and his friend would try to execute tricks at the now-shuttered rink.
In 2020 he was discovered by an inline skating coach, who coaxed the pair into trading the ice for wheels on land.
From there, he developed an interest in freestyle sliding, where participants run at full speed on inline skates onto a 40m long smooth surface before power-sliding across the ground, turning their controlled drifts into a technical, stylish movement.
Skaters are judged on the distance, difficulty and execution of the slide.
Since making the transition, Tan has competed in Singapore, China, South Korea and Thailand.
After completing his national service recently, he showed great form at the 20th Asian Roller Skating Championships in Jecheon, South Korea in July, when he won the freestyle slide to become Singapore’s first-ever Asian champion in the category.
The 21-year-old carried his momentum into the inaugural Inline Freestyle World Championships in Singapore from Dec 1 to 4.
After gaining a spot in the Singapore team through an internal competition, he clinched a silver in the freestyle slide senior men’s category.
Thailand’s Viritpol Vongakrayakorn claimed the gold, while Spaniard Rubio Mesas Enrique took the bronze.
Tan said: “I really trained very hard for this competition, but there’s still room for improvement. This second-place finish really makes me hungry for even more.”
The part-time inline skating coach is eyeing the world title in the future.
He added: “When I’m skating, I felt like I was at peace, but that was when I first started out. Right now, I really find fun in it, I love feeling the adrenaline when I slide.”
The first freestyle world championships drew a total of 370 participants from 32 countries and territories, with Singapore winning two silver medals through Tan and Dean Kang, 14, in the junior men’s freestyle slide event.
Introduced to the sport at seven, Dean started in slalom skating – which involves performing tricks around a line of cones – after watching others in action at the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park.
Bored by slalom, he switched to freestyle sliding after three months.
At his first competition, the 2022 Singapore Inline Skating Tournament, he was second and has since competed in eight more events. He has been a part of the national team since December 2024.
Dean said he was happy with the way he executed his runs at the world championships, where he finished behind Ukraine’s Teterin Mykhailo and ahead of San Marino’s Terenzi Tommaso.
Dean Kang high-fiving supporters on his way to clinching second in the freestyle slide junior men’s event at the 2025 Inline Freestyle World Championship.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE ROLLERSPORTS FEDERATION
Like Tan, the Hai Sing Catholic School student has aspirations to become a world champion.
He said: “I am proud of my performance. I was able to meet my expectations on my skills and performed the slides consistently.
“I look forward to winning the gold in a world competition.”
