comparing the two

Question
I am writing a paper on the difference skills needed for the quad vs the inline skate.  Can you give me some insight on how a competitive quad skater would need to adjust their learned skill in order to change over to the inline.  What competitive edge does the inline skate bring over the quad.

Answer
Keri,
First I must apopogize for the delay in answering - I've been away.
My answer to your question must be theoretical since I have never been involved in speed skating on either quads or inlines, however, I have made the transition from quads to inlines & conduct my classes on both depending on the needs of my students.
Quad skating offers a more solid base ie; you can stand on one foot on a quad skate as long as your stamina allows, which is not the case with inlines which are less stable - balancing on one foot would be a good deal more precarious & you would lose balance before your stamina ran out. So the first adjustment would be finding your center over inlines, which I for one found very disconcerting, coming from the position of a seasoned & well trained quad skater, & incidentally an expert skiier - there is a relationship there - especially as relates to confidence in one's ability. There I was at the top of my game, standing on inlines for the first time & feeling very uncomfortable, unstable & very much more like a newbie than I ever remember feeling on quads, which always felt like an extension of my feet.
So the one making the transition would have to practice on the new inlines until he/she felt as comfortable on them as on quads in terms of balance & confidence; & would need to alter certain techniques, such as trading in the hockey stop for the power slide & using the inside edge for a T stop rather than the outside edge one should use on quads.
I believe that once one finds one's center & feels that same confidence & ease on the inlines, the actual racing techniques should be pretty much the same as on Quads.
As regards your second question, I believe that, given equall skill levels of the competitors, the inline skate is inately faster with it's longer base & because there is less friction with wheels in line as opposed to parrallel, this too increases the speed potential of the inline giving it the competitive edge over the quad skate.
The equalizer is, of course, in the talent & ability of the individusl skater - on any given day a skaters skill & some undefinable x factor can carry him to the gold over all apparent odds.
I hope this has been helpful to you from the view of, well, not a layman but certainly not a speed affictionado.
Roll on!!!..........................Lezly (Lezly Skate School - estab. 1979)