‘We have to prove ourselves every time’: How 21-year-old Shreyasi Joshi made skating history for India

“In Inline Freestyle, China is the most dominant country. Almost all the podiums are taken by Chinese skaters because they are very competitive and very strong in all aspects,” Joshi told indianexpress.com. The Lishui event was a three-star competition—the highest level of international competition that can be hosted in the sport apart from the world championships. It attracted skaters from China, Russia, Spain, Poland, and Italy, among other countries.

Joshi said the conditions made the competition even tougher, with the skating surface proving unusually slippery. “Even standing straight was a bit difficult and all the skaters were falling because of that. So, I would say that it was a relatively tougher competition because the surface was not the best one and also because it was hosted in China,” she said. For Joshi, winning bronze under those circumstances was particularly satisfying. “I’m really happy that I could perform well and win this medal because no Indian has won this medal before,” she added.

 

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From a school skating rink to the international stage

Joshi started skating when she was just three years old, but becoming a professional was never part of an early plan. Her interest began after she watched skaters practising at her school. “My school had a sports playground and I was involved in the small kids’ playground and daily activities and physical exercise. But besides that, there was my school skating rink and I saw all the skaters skating every day. I wanted to do skating, so that’s how I started,” she told indianexpress.com.

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that inline freestyle became a bigger part of her life. Joshi and her sister Swarali began practising together at home, and the sport appealed to them because it did not require a large facility. “I didn’t plan to become a professional skater as such, but during the COVID period, most of the time we were at home and my sister and I had nothing much to do. Inline freestyle is a sport that can be practised even in a small place. All you need is a smooth surface and the cones which we use for practice,” she said.

That casual beginning eventually turned into an international career. Since 2022, Joshi has participated in international competitions and represented India at the 2023 Asian Games. She competed at the World and Asian Championships in 2024 and 2025 and, last year, won gold in both the Classic and Battle Inline Freestyle categories at the Asian Roller Skating Championship in Jecheon, South Korea, becoming a double Asian champion.

Her skating career has also continued alongside her education. Joshi is in the final years of her Computer Science engineering degree at MIT World Peace University in Pune.

What is Inline Freestyle?

For those unfamiliar with the sport, Joshi explained to indianexpress.com that inline freestyle consists of several disciplines, with Classic and Speed among the most popular. Classic is the discipline she specialises in and is essentially a performance choreographed to music, lasting up to two minutes.

“Classic is more of a performance which is on music which the skater selects and it’s up to two minutes,” she said. The performance is judged on artistic and technical aspects. The artistic component looks at how well the skater synchronises with the music and incorporates dance movements while navigating the cones, while the technical aspect focuses on tricks performed on a single wheel.

 

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Speed, meanwhile, is based on timing. Skaters navigate through 20 cones placed 80 centimetres apart after taking a running start on their skates. Specialised laser equipment records the time, while every cone kicked or missed attracts a 0.2-second penalty. Joshi, however, prefers the artistic side of the sport. “I mostly do Classic. I usually don’t do speed, but I like the artistic and performance part a lot,” she said.

Training twice a day while pursuing engineering

Joshi’s schedule leaves little room for a conventional college routine. She and her sister train twice a day while attending college. Their morning session usually runs from 6 or 6.30 am until 8 or 8.30 am, followed by college. Their evening training begins around 6 pm and can continue until 8.30 or 9 pm.

Her university’s flexibility has helped her manage the demanding schedule, particularly around competitions. “Our college provides us the flexibility to maybe skip some classes or attend fewer classes based on how intense our training is or if the competition season is near,” Joshi told indianexpress.com. She uses weekends and the gaps between college and training to study for exams.

Her training also changes through the year. During the first few months, when there are fewer competitions, she focuses on polishing individual tricks and building strength. She also works on her Classic performance, which generally remains the same throughout the competition season, while Pilates and yoga help with flexibility and composure.

Once competitions begin around May, the focus shifts towards performance. “During the competition season, we make sure that we practise only our performance. In one training session, we try to do at least two performances so that we get used to all the steps and also so that our stamina increases,” she said.

 

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‘We have to prove our level every single time’

For Joshi, competing internationally means constantly establishing herself and Indian skating on the global stage. “We have to prove our level every single time because there are not so many inline freestyle skaters who are at the top yet, or there are not many medals that India is winning currently in inline freestyle,” she told indianexpress.com.

She believes the sport requires both physical ability and mental strength. “Inline freestyle especially requires physical strength to hold the entire body weight on a single wheel,” Joshi said, but added that patience and determination are equally important because even apparently simple tricks can take years to master.

Joshi has also seen a change in the way skating is viewed in India. When she started, she said roller sports were largely seen as an outdoor activity or hobby. Today, she sees multiple competitions being organised across the country in disciplines such as speed skating, inline freestyle and roller derby.

“I think it’s great because all the people are starting to see that skating is not just like a hobby that people pursue, but it is a competitive sport,” she said.

She acknowledges that building a career in a relatively unfamiliar sport can be difficult, but believes passion matters more. Her own journey is proof of how far the discipline has come: when she started, inline freestyle was not even part of the Asian Games; in 2023, she represented India at the continental event.

For Joshi, the Lishui bronze is another step towards changing perceptions. “I think that this medal is a motivation for all the skaters that Indians can also reach the top level in international competitions and that we can also achieve medals like other countries,” she said. “For me, it was a great motivation for the upcoming World Championships.”

Skating with her sister and creating content

Skating is also a shared passion in the Joshi household. Shreyasi’s younger sister, 18-year-old Swarali, is also an inline skater, and the two train together and help each other prepare for competitions.

“It makes the journey very much easier because we both have different strengths and different weaknesses. So, each one of us can help each other out when the other one is doing something wrong or needs some help,” Shreyasi told indianexpress.com. They also help each other with their Classic routines, which require creativity in addition to technical ability.

The sisters run an Instagram account, @_skater_sisters, which they started during the Covid period. Initially, the account was a way to watch international skaters and learn from their performances. Over time, it became a platform to showcase their own journey and encourage younger skaters.

 

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“Content creation is very much natural to us because at the end of the intense training session, we usually spend 10 to 15 minutes just having fun and recording videos,” Joshi said. She believes social media is particularly important for a relatively lesser-known sport in India.

“I think yes, it is just as important because it helps spread social awareness at least in India where the sport has just started growing. I think it is important that we maintain this social presence and help the sport as much as we can to develop,” she said.

Had skating not entered her life, Joshi says she would probably still have chosen a sport, perhaps swimming or archery. For children who want to pursue skating but come from families that see it only as a hobby, she has a simple message.

“Skating, firstly, is a sport of patience. And if they really like the sport, then they should just keep enjoying it. Maybe the career option will open up to them later as they start playing competitions,” she said.

What began with watching skaters at her school and practising with her sister during the Covid period has now taken Joshi to the Asian Games, World and Asian Championships and, most recently, the podium at a three-star international event in China. With the World Championships scheduled to take place in Paraguay in October, Joshi’s next challenge is already waiting.