Today, 10 years ago, I drove this world record on the map "AnGel" in TrackMania Nations ESWC. This map was built by Ron Turbo in 2006 (!) and is still one of my all time favorite maps. When I started playing, in 2007, this was already one of the most famous maps in the game, and I quickly fell in love with it. The speed, combined with the smooth drifts, was something I really enjoyed. I wanted to see how far I could push myself on this map.
The world record at the time was a 53.47 by Sandder - the legendary Estonian player. In October 2007, the German player Anderson would beat him with a 53.45 (-0.02). My own personal best was a 53.82 (+0.37).
On the 8th of December 2007, Sandder took back the world record with a 53.43 (-0.02). I remember studying their replays, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I was playing the map day after day, and after countless hours of grinding, I finally started to understand the map. On the 15th of December 2007, just one week after Sandder had reclaimed his world record, I managed to beat him with a 53.42 (-0.01). I actually made a video of this run on my KZfaq channel ( • Worldrecord on AnGel -... ). Oh, and don't mind the quality on that video lol.
Just 4 days later, on the 19th of December 2007, the French player tOto beat me with a 53.41 (-0.01), and he also improved to a 53.39 (-0.02) on the same day. The very next day I took it back with a 53.38 (-0.01), but tOto responded within just a few hours with a 53.35 (-0.03).
In January 2008, Anderson returned and drove a 53.32 (-0.03) online. Though at the time, it was not possible to upload online replays to the TMX leaderboard, but he made a video of the run: • AnGel 53.32
On the 6th of February 2008, the Norwegian player Flanders managed to beat Anderson with a 53.30 (-0.02). Many players, including myself, were trying to get the first 53.2x, but noone seemed to be able to break the barrier.
In April 2008, TrackMania Nations Forever was released, and most players switched over to that game, including me. I was becoming more competitive. I switched from keyboard to gamepad, and I was improving a lot as a player. In November 2008, I won DreamHack Winter, which was my first LAN event.
These old classic maps from TrackMania Nations ESWC were not really hunted anymore, but in February 2009 I returned to this map to see what I could do on it. It didn't take long until I beat my old personal best, and on the 24th of February I beat Flanders with a 53.24 (-0.06). Two days later, I improved to a 53.16 (-0.08), shortly followed by a 53.09 (-0.07). I also hunted some more classic ESWC maps during this period and made a video out of it: • TMN Classic Records by...
This record would stand for over two years, until the 17th of March 2011, when the German player oNio beat me with a 53.08 (-0.01). I was quickly informed about this, and I started hunting the map again almost immediately. Three days later, on the 20th of March, I managed to strike back with a 53.04 (-0.04).
About 9 months later, on the 29th of January 2012, another German player called Lieshoutr3 uploaded an astonishing time - a 52.89 (-0.15) and the first run under 53 seconds. Lieshoutr3 had used a new strategy in the big jump toward the end of the map (1:40 in the video). Instead of going fullspeed and jumping slightly sideways, he made a small release and jumped straight. This allowed him to land earlier and build up much more speed going into the final drifts. Shortz made a video of this run which you can watch here: • Worldrecord on Ron Tur...
When Lieshoutr3 set his time, I didn't even try to take it back. I was pretty active in TMNF at the time, playing various competitions for Dignitas. I was also quite busy with my studies, and in August 2012 I started studying at university.
After the first year of university, I had lost the motivation to study, so I decided to take a year off and do something else. This is when I decided to return to AnGel again and see if I could beat Lieshoutr3.
After learning the new release strategy I knew that I had the speed to beat him, and on the 4th of August 2013, I got this run that you see in the video - a 52.73 (-0.16) which is still the world record today.
Even though my time is very beatable (especially with today's skill level in TrackMania), this map will always be very special to me. It was on this map that I learned to play tech basically.
The video is supposed to be motivational. I truly believe that if you really want something, and keep working toward it, you will reach your goals.
I decided to play the replay in slow motion because I thought it fit quite well with this piece of music that I really like. Hope you enjoy it.
Song: J.T. Peterson [Sky Productions] - The Epical
Check out AnGel on TMX: nations.tm-exchange.com/track...
Thanks for watching!