Fast Fingers World Championship: What It Is and How It Runs
Fast Fingers is the annual world championship of hobbyist fingerboarding, held in the small Bavarian town of Schwarzenbach an der Saale since 2000. It's hosted by Blackriver, the German brand that effectively founded serious hobbyist fingerboarding. Recent editions have drawn around 120 competitors from 30 countries, with roughly 1,500 spectators. It's the single event that keeps the global scene connected — most riders will never attend, but every serious rider knows what it is and when it happens.
The basics
Fast Fingers is a competitive tournament for wooden-fingerboard riders. It's held annually in Schwarzenbach an der Saale, a town in Bavaria, Germany, at the headquarters of Blackriver Ramps — the brand that hosts and organises the event.
The competition has run since 2000 and is by far the longest-running fingerboarding championship in the world. It combines a formal contest with a broader festival: skate sessions on Blackriver's park equipment, brand booths, hands-on workshops, and general community meetup elements.
Recent editions in 2024 and 2026 (Fast Fingers 21 and 22) each drew around 120 competitors from roughly 30 countries, with around 1,500 spectators across the event weekend. Those numbers have been broadly stable across the last several editions and are the scene's most reliable indicator of core-hobbyist scale.
The competition format
The contest itself runs as a series of runs and best-trick sessions across a fixed park of ramps, rails and ledges. Riders compete individually rather than in teams. Judging is by panel and combines technical difficulty, style, and successful completion of tricks.
The specific format has varied across editions and is best confirmed from the current year's Blackriver blog post, which publishes details ahead of each event. The consistent elements: a qualifying round, a final for the top qualifiers, and a separate best-trick contest that runs in parallel and often produces the most memorable clips of the weekend.
Winners have historically been disproportionately German — the local scene has both the density of practice and the infrastructure to develop technically strong riders. Championship winners across the years include Timo Kranz (2009), Dimitri Schlotthauer (2010), Valentin Leiber (2012), Jeldo Ulpts (2019), and more recently Ramon Angelow (2024) and Alex Christ (2026, Fast Fingers 22). Riders from outside Germany have won, but German dominance is a real pattern.
Who attends
Two audiences show up: competing riders (roughly 100–130 per edition) and spectators (roughly 1,000–1,500 per edition). Competitors range from teenagers to riders in their thirties and forties. The event is intergenerational in a way that most action-sport events are not.
Beyond the formal competitors, most attendees are hobbyist fingerboarders who come to skate, meet other riders, and buy from the brands with booths at the event. Blackriver, Berlinwood, and a rotation of other manufacturers have physical presence at the event — some limited-edition products only go on sale during Fast Fingers weekend.
The event is open to the public. You do not need to be a competitor to attend — you can show up, watch the contest, skate on the open sessions on Saturday, and leave having met more of the community in one weekend than a year of online forum time would give you.
Practical attendance
Schwarzenbach an der Saale is a small town in Bavaria, about halfway between Nuremberg and Leipzig. It's reachable by train from Hof (the nearest larger town) or by driving from any major German city. The town has limited accommodation — for the event weekend, book well in advance, or plan to stay in Hof and travel each day.
The event is typically held in autumn (September to November has been common, though exact dates change year to year). Blackriver announces dates and details on their official blog several months ahead. If you're planning to attend, get on the Blackriver newsletter early in the year.
For competing: registration typically opens some months before the event and closes when the competitor slots fill (~120 places, and they do fill). Registration details are also on the Blackriver blog for each edition — a serious rider planning to compete should start watching announcements as soon as the previous edition finishes.
Why the event matters
For a small global community, having one physical meeting point per year is transformative. It gives the scene a rhythm — a moment every year when the best riders push technical progression, when videos get made that circulate for the following twelve months, when brands launch limited products, and when relationships form that sustain the community for the rest of the year.
Fast Fingers's importance is out of proportion to its raw attendance numbers. 1,500 spectators sounds small next to a mass-market sports event, but the event functions like a professional conference in a niche industry — small but consequential, and the primary venue where the professional-tier riders and brands align on where the discipline is heading.
If you are serious about fingerboarding as a hobby beyond casual use, attending Fast Fingers once is worth planning for. It doesn't have to be as a competitor. Watching for two days from the sidelines gives you an accelerated view of the current state of the art.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Fast Fingers championship held?+
Schwarzenbach an der Saale, a small town in Bavaria, Germany. It's the headquarters of Blackriver Ramps, who host the event. The location has been consistent since the championship started in 2000.
How many people compete in Fast Fingers?+
Recent editions have had around 120 competitors from roughly 30 countries. Numbers have been stable across the last several editions. Total attendance including spectators is around 1,500.
How do I compete in Fast Fingers?+
Registration opens a few months before each year's event. Details are published on the Blackriver blog. Competitor slots (~120) fill relatively quickly, so watch announcements early in the year if you want to enter.
Do I have to compete to attend?+
No. The event is open to the public. Spectators can watch the contest, participate in open skate sessions, visit brand booths, and meet the community. Most attendees are non-competitors.
Who's the most decorated Fast Fingers champion?+
Historical winners have skewed strongly German. Riders like Timo Kranz (2009), Dimitri Schlotthauer (2010) and Valentin Leiber (2012) are foundational names from earlier editions; more recent winners include Ramon Angelow (2024) and Alex Christ (2026). No single rider has dominated across all editions — the technical level rises every year and the field turns over.
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