If the first ever Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship in 2010 raised the bar compared with the individual events held in previous years, the four races making up the 2011 World Championship are set to take the sport of ice cross downhill to a completely new level. Ice cross downhill is a mixture of ice skating and skiercross held in an urban environment and involves athletes in full ice-hockey gear racing four-at-a-time down steep ice canals dotted with jumps, rollers, obstacles and hairpin bends. The first to the bottom wins. Simple.
On January 15, 2011, the world elite will return to Munich’s Olympic Park (GER) for the season opener, which attracted over 50,000 fans in 2010. Just three weeks later, on February 5, it is the turn of Valkenburg (NED) to join the illustrious list of locations to have played host to the world’s best ice cross downhillers. Yes, a flat country like the Netherlands has a hilly region! Then, on February 26, the frozen party moves on to Moscow (RUS), where huge crowds and temperatures well below zero are guaranteed. Finally, the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship returns to its roots in Quebec (CAN) for the traditional season finale on March 19, a city where huge courses through the city’s historic old town have been attracting up to 100,000 fans since the event debuted in 2006.
The question on everybody’s lips is: Which skater will emerge as the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Champion 2011? Having been forced to withdraw from the event in Munich due to a back injury sustained in training, and then breaking two ribs in a spectacular crash at the season showdown in Canada, seven-time winner Jasper Felder (SWE) will be desperate to show why he is considered the greatest ice cross racer in the history of the sport. Just like Felder, the Finnish skaters, normally so strong at international level, weren’t able to keep up with Martin Niefnecker (GER) in 2010 and, after being on the end of some pretty borderline pushing and shoving last time around, Lari Joutsenlahti, Paavo Klintrup and their fellow Finns will be out for revenge this year. Finally, the skaters from Canada have been in the ascendancy in the last few years and will themselves be looking to build on Kyle Croxall’s (CAN) win at the 2010 season finale in Quebec (CAN).
Qualifiers & Registration
The Red Bull Crashed World Championship 2011 is once again an open event with National Qualifiers taking place ahead of each of the four stops. The fastest skaters from each qualifying event will then be invited to compete against the best in the world at the main event. Keep your blades sharp, as registration details for Canada will be posted very soon to www.redbullcrashedice.com.
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