North Gyeongsang Province won the overall title at the 107th National Sports Festival roller sports competition, held in Seogwipo on Jeju Island for the first time since 2014 — a gap of 12 years. The province scored 2,567 points to claim the championship, marking its first overall victory in the 42 years since roller speed skating became an official National Sports Festival discipline at the 66th edition in 1985.
Andong City Hall athletes played a central role in North Gyeongsang Province's overall victory. Bae Jun-cheol, Lee Sang-cheol and Park Min-jeong each took first place in the points 5,000m, elimination 10,000m and 1,000m events, respectively, while the women's relay 3,000m team finished first and the men's team finished second. Sagok High School and Korea International Culinary High School also contributed solid performances to the province's title run.
North Chungcheong Province finished as runner-up with 2,553 points. The province had held the overall title for eight years from 2016 to 2025 — excluding 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 — but surrendered it to North Gyeongsang Province this year. While North Gyeongsang Province was driven largely by Andong City Hall, North Chungcheong Province relied heavily on its high school division. Lee Jong-hui (Seowon High School, North Chungcheong Province, third year) won gold in the 500m+D, and Park Ga-eun (Jecheon Girls' High School, North Chungcheong Province, third year) took gold in the 1,000m. Jeon Ha-yul (Jecheon Girls' High School, second year), who won the points 5,000m at last year's festival, claimed first in the elimination 10,000m and added a second gold as part of the relay 3,000m winning team. Lee Jong-hui and Park Ga-eun also won the relay 3,000m to each claim two gold medals, with the high school division's strong showing securing the runner-up finish.
South Chungcheong Province took third. Lee Ye-rim (Nonsan City Hall, South Chungcheong Province), who won three titles at last year's festival, claimed first in the 500m+D but finished second in the 1,000m behind rival Park Min-jeong, and also came second in the relay 3,000m behind Andong City Hall. In the high school division, Shim Eun-se (South Chungcheong Province Sports High School, third year), a double gold medalist at the previous festival, managed only one silver and three bronze medals. The underperformance cost South Chungcheong Province the runner-up position it had held for two consecutive years, which passed to North Chungcheong Province.
Na Yeong-seo (South Chungcheong Province Sports Council) stepped up in the absence of last year's long-distance double champion Yu Ga-ram, who was away on maternity leave, defeating rival Yang Do-i (Andong City Hall, North Gyeongsang Province) to win both the points 5,000m and the elimination 10,000m. The high school division also produced a double individual champion. Lee Seong-jun (Dongahn High School, first year) won gold in both the points 5,000m and the elimination 10,000m, establishing himself as the next-generation long-distance star to follow in the footsteps of Gang Byeong-ho (Seowon High School, North Chungcheong Province, third year).
Jeong Cheol-won, who drew public criticism for a premature celebration at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, competed under the Gangwon Province Roller Sports Federation and showed his skills remain sharp. He won the 1,000m and then anchored the relay 3,000m team to victory, edging Andong City Hall by 0.102 seconds to claim back-to-back relay 3,000m titles. His younger brother Jeong Cheol-gyu (Gangneung City Hall, Gangwon Province) won silver in the points 5,000m.
In the high school division, Jeong Yeong-un (Jeonju Life Science High School, North Jeolla Province, second year) successfully defended his 1,000m title from the previous festival. Lee Ye-rim (Nonsan City Hall, South Chungcheong Province) also retained her 500m+D title for a second consecutive year.
The Seogwipo Roller Skating Rink at Gangchanghak Park in Seogwipo, where the competition was held, is only the second parabolic track built in South Korea, after the one in Seoul. Newly constructed ahead of this year's National Sports Festival, it has received official certification from the Korea Roller Sports Federation. A parabolic track meets the conditions required to host World Championship events sanctioned by the international federation. While neighboring China and Taiwan have built multiple such tracks, the vast majority of venues in South Korea use standard-angle banked tracks, which has long made surface adaptation a challenge for Korean athletes at world championships.
Kim Gyeong-seok, president of the Korea Roller Sports Federation, said the federation felt compelled to act on parabolic track construction out of concern that ignoring international trends in favor of a self-contained domestic circuit would leave Korean athletes unable to compete globally. "We revised the certification regulations, applied parabolic track requirements to National Sports Festival venues, and introduced incentives such as bonus points for hosting national competitions," he said. This year's festival drew praise for having relatively fewer judging disputes and fall incidents compared with previous editions — a notable contrast given the event's reputation for fierce competition. Many observers attributed the improvement, at least in part, to positive changes that emerged as athletes adapted to the parabolic track. Kim echoed that view, saying he found it "very encouraging" to see positive changes at the outset of the parabolic track's full introduction. "If we move forward in this direction together with each province and city, we will be able to strengthen our athletes' competitiveness in a venue environment second to none in the world," he said.
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