The History

Red Bull Photofiles

The History

2009-11-17

How it all began – with a fishy smell

January 20, 2000 was the day a new sport was born, “a sport of the century” as a renowned English newspaper described the breathtaking new competition. Athletes from around the world flocked to the Swedish capital Stockholm for the inaugural race – wearing hockey skates in a man vs. man battle down a 300-metre long ice track filled with gap jumps, ice steps and razor-sharp hairpin turns. The sport was called Ice Cross Downhill and the race called Red Bull Crashed Ice.

Never before had anyone attempted anything even remotely similar and all those who took part in that first race – all outstanding hockey players – called it an incredible experience.

The first race in Stockholm was a pilot project both from a sporting and technical perspective. Because the construction work involved was so extensive there was no chance to test the event out in an advance and see what the athletes would be up against. The first Red Bull Crashed Ice track was set up through Stockholm’s fish market – a location with the aroma of fresh fish. After a brief boycott at the start and spectacular crashes in the test runs, the competitors quickly adapted to their unusual field of play. Since then there have been 14 races in eight countries. Hundreds of thousands of spectators have watched the races on the ever-more advanced tracks – on ski slopes in the mountains and through urban valleys in city centres.

“It’s an enormous sporting challenge, it’s extremely spectacular for the crowds, and a spine-tingling race for the world’s best athletes,” says Sweden’s Jasper Felder, who has won 7 of the 14 races so far. The remarkable Swede as well as Finland’s Miikka Jouhkimainen and Arttu Pihlainen have been the dominant forces in the eight-year history of the race.
While in the past the races were staged as individual events, there will now be a formal world championship for the first time in 2010.

Red Bull Crashed Ice Champions Chronology

2009	Lausanne, SUI	Jasper Felder (SWE)
2009	Prague, CZE	Miikka Jouhkamainen (FIN)
2009	Quebec City, CAN	Arttu Pihlainen (FIN)
2008	Quebec City, CAN	Arttu Pihlainen (FIN)
2008	Davos, SUI	Miikka Jouhkamainen (FIN)
2007	Quebec City, CAN	Kevin Olson (CAN)
2007	Helsinki, FIN	Kevin Olson (CAN)
2006	Quebec City, CAN	Gabriel Andre (CAN)
2005	Prague, CZE	Jasper Felder (SWE)
2004	Moscow, RUS	Jasper Felder (SWE)
2004	Duluth, Minnesota, USA	Jasper Felder (SWE)
2003	Duluth, Minnesota, USA	Jasper Felder (SWE)
2001	Klagenfurt, AUT	Jasper Felder (SWE)
2000	Stockholm, SWE	Jasper Felder (SWE)