Bremen athletes competing for Germany

This Saturday, the World Championships in Roller Skating started in Rimini, Italy. This year, three athletes, Lisa Welik, Michael Seeger Suarez and Palmira Seeger Suarez, from the Bürgerweide Ice and Roller Sports Club (ERB) in Bremen have been nominated by the German Roller Sports and Inline Association (DRIV) to prove themselves on the highest international level until September 19th.

Beforehand, however, the athlete had to qualify for the World Championships through ranking competitions. There were a total of three tournaments for qualification this year – one even in Bremen, a home game. And it was precisely this home advantage in the roller sports stadium in the Pauliner Marsch that Lisa Welik and the siblings Michael and Palmira Seeger Suarez took advantage of at the national ranking competition. In this year’s individual ranking, Palmira Seeger Suarez and Lisa Welik achieved first and second place. In addition to her solo start, Welik was also able to qualify for the World Championships as a dance couple with her partner Michael Seeger Suarez.

The three Bremen natives flew to Rimini on Wednesday. “That gave them enough time to arrive and complete their last training sessions on site,” explains ERB trainer Andreas Nickel, who travelled to Italy on Friday. This Sunday evening and Sunday, Lisa Welik and Michael Seeger Suarez will compete in the pair dance and face competition from 15 other couples. From Tuesday to Thursday inclusive, Palmira Seeger Suarez and Lisa Welik will then compete in the solo dance competitions.

The Bremen team has set clear goals in Italy: Andreas Nickel does not expect medals for his protégés, as the international competition is too strong for that, but he does expect decent placings, even in the single digits. 20-year-old Lisa Welik competed in the adult category for the first time at the last World Championships and took 17th place. Her coach is convinced that she will achieve a similarly good placing this year. “The goal for Lisa would be a place between 14th and 18th in a field of 34 participants, which would be very strong,” he says.

I trust her one hundred percent.

Andreas Nickel, ERB trainer

Palmira Seeger Suarez, who is three years older and therefore a little more experienced, wants to maintain last year’s good result of ninth place if possible. “It would of course be great if she could improve again.” Her performance at the German Championships in August gives Andreas Nickel reason to be optimistic. “I trust her one hundred percent.”

In pair dancing, Lisa Welik and Michael Seeger Suarez are also hoping to place among the top ten couples in the world. In 2022 in Buenos Aires, the duo finished seventh in the pair dancing master class, and in 2023 in Ibagué, Colombia, they finished eighth. “Something in this area would be great, and I’d love to be one place better,” said Nickel. The favorite for the title in the pairs race is Italy, while in the individual competition the title aspirants are spread across the nations of Spain, Italy, Paraguay and Brazil.

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