French Beddiaf and Ecuadorian Vargas, champions at Havana World Skate Marathon

Roller skaters Nolan Beddiaf and Gabriela Vargas were crowned champions of the 1st season of the World Skate Marathon Tour, despite not having achieved podiums in the third and last stop that took place on Sunday along streets near Havana's coastline.

In the race where 320 international and Cuban skaters participated, divided into 18 categories, Beddiaf and Vargas, the best in the stops of Pescara, Italy and Shanghai, China, finished fifth (01:12:56.934) and sixth (01:34:49.367) in their respective categories.

Frenchman Beddiaf, a member of the FR Skates Tax Racing team, showed why he is recognized by specialists as a skating legend by surpassing his closest pursuers in the general classification in a race won by a competitor in a lagging position in the ranking for professionals.

Along with Beddiaff, completed the winners of the ranking among men, the German Felix Rijhnen and Rico, second and third, respectively.

The native of the city of Quito, Gabriela Vargas, shared in tears her happiness for defending her green leader jersey: "I am very happy to have put the name of Ecuador on high, once again I am making history for my country, hopefully this will inspire my people to get out of such bad times," said the 26-year-old in light of the internal armed conflict decreed this year in Ecuadorian territory.

In addition to Vargas' crowning by the World Skate Marathon Tour, among the women, Lianne Van Loon and Aura Quintana finished second and third respectively.

The young Belgian Jason Suttels won the gold medal of the final stop in the men's category by stopping the clock in 1:11:33.875 hours ahead of the Colombians Mateo Rico García (1:11:34.298) and Carlos Tarazona (1:11:38.372).

On the women's side, 22-year-old Colombian Karolina Garcia won for the third time a 42 km race held in the Havana capital by finishing first (1:31:38.549) in a very close dispute with Spanish Aura Quintana (1:31:38.685) and her compatriot Maria Jose Quiroz (1:31:38.864).

In the team classification, the Powerslide Vesmaco team overtook in this last race the Wiked Powerslide team that was leading the world championship, in the third position were the representatives of the NL Premiun jacket.

Cuba's representatives, David Enrique Quintero and Dayan Millan, members of the national skating team finished among the 11 best in the event that brought together the elite of long-distance skating.

In addition to the definition of the 2024 season of the World Marathon Tour, the 4th edition of Havana Skate brought together multiple disciplines for national exponents and fans of speed and pirouettes on wheels from all over the world, among which the 100-meter sprint races and the practice of modalities such as Skatecross and Inline Freestyle Jump stood out.

The organizers of Havana Skate dedicated the main event of skaters in the world to the centenary of the constitution of World Skate and the 505th anniversary of the founding of the Villa de San Cristobal de La Habana.