Take some of the best ice hockey players in the world, thousands of spectators, a 500m downhill ice skating course and several tonnes of steel, put it all in the middle of an historic city, and what do you get? Red Bull Crashed Ice.
Since the first race in 2000, Crashed Ice has grown into one of the biggest and most spectacular winter sports events in the world. It features ice hockey stars hurtling at 50kph down frozen courses up to 500m long, in groups of four, shoulder to shoulder, as they fight it out for victory.
Oh, and the race is staged on a steep downhill track dotted with chicanes, jumps and rollers. Pushing, sliding, sprinting and wrangling are all on the agenda, as the first to the bottom wins.
The sport most similar to ice cross is probably ski cross. In this discipline, skiers descend a snow course featuring jumps, rollers and banked corners four at a time, with the fastest two athletes progressing to the next round. While physical contact is (as with ice cross) not officially permitted, the high speeds and twisty courses make for spectacular action and plenty of crashes.
From Stockholm to Moscow, Lausanne to Prague, Quebec to Minnesota: Red Bull Crashed Ice has taken its brand of organised mayhem all around the world, since the first race in Stockholm, Sweden. That race – and many since – was won by the legendary Jasper Felder. Last year, the Swede wowed a huge crowd of 50,000 as he took victory in Lausanne.
But what’s his secret? And just how do you prepare for such a unique race? Of course it’s essential to know what you are doing on the ice, but not all of the competitors are ice hockey stars – Felder is a professional bandy player: bandy is a game like ice hockey but played with a ball and with many rules taken from football.
But while ice skating skills are important, Felder is convinced that the key to success lies in the mental preparation: “It is hard to do any special training; the only thing I do is skate a lot – around three or four times a week, sometimes more. To be honest, getting ready for Red Bull Crashed Ice is more of a mindgame – it’s just completely unique.”
WIth six wins in a row, Felder holds the record for the most back-to-back victories in Crashed Ice, but Lausanne was his first top spot since 2006. The last few years have been dominated by the Finns: in 2008 Miikka Jouhkimainen won in Davos, while Arttu Pihlainen won in Quebec City in 2008 and 2009.
Growing media attention means that an increasing number of young, talented skaters are getting into ice cross and Red Bull Crashed Ice. However, while the next generation may be hammering on the door in 2010, that doesn’t mean that Felder is about to hang up his skates: “I’ve been skating Red Bull Crashed Ice for eight years now. I’m going to be 39 this year, but I still feel great. You can never count me out!”
The first stop on the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship is at the Olympiapark, Munich, on January 16.
All amateur ice skaters, as well as professional ice hockey players can qualify to participate in these two stops and can be selected through national qualifiers within the next few weeks.
Find out more from the Red Bull Crashed Ice website
www.redbullcrashedice.com
Watch Jesper in action in Lausanne earlier this year.
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